The Milwaukee Brewers are having their best regular season in franchise history and storming toward the playoffs, and a new mural is up in McKee Farms Park in connection with a team project to put murals up around the state.
Fitchburg Chamber President Angela Kinderman said the project is an “intentional initiative for the Brewers to take that love of the Brewers across the state, not just Milwaukee.”
Kinderman said Fitchburg was connected to the project through the artist Emily Balsley, who was working with the Brewers to design these murals. She was working with Matt Winzenried to design a mural for his real estate office and he mentioned Fitchburg would be interested in being included.
Kinderman said the mural is awesome for the city’s tourism industry, because it brings people to the park and McKee Farms Park was the “perfect” location for the mural because it’s a landmark spot in the city and thousands of people already visit the park.
Kinderman said it’s already a popular spot to take photos and people are very excited about the “representation of Brewers” in Fitchburg.
Artist Emily Balsley said she has been doing freelance illustration for almost 20 years, and has focused more on murals in the last five years.
She said the Brewers reached out to her on social media, after someone on their marketing team found her work. The Brewers were looking for Wisconsin artists from around the state to do a mural in several different locations. They asked Balsley to do the Madison-area mural.
When coming up with the design for the mural, Balsley wanted to do something that people can see themselves in. The mural includes graphics of people high-fiving, taking a drink at a game, eating popcorn and catching a ball. Balsley said she wanted it to feel like people going to a Brewers game.
“The art itself, like the actual illustration, really celebrates the fan experience,” Balsley said. “I really wanted to connect with the Brewers fans and audience.”
Balsley started painting in mid-July, and it took her about two weeks to finish the mural.