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Beginning at 9 a.m., volunteers and more came together for a communal purpose: restoring the Flag Mural on 9th and Van Brunt streets.
“All of our families here who have immigrants, who are immigrants or they have parents who immigrated,” lead artist Fai Beal said. “This means so much to them to say, you matter, your heritage matters, your culture matters, and you are a part of this city. It’s not them and them and them, we are all a part of Kansas City. We are all the peoples of Kansas City,”
All supplies were provided; volunteers just needed to bring their energy and talents Monday to the Lykins neighborhood in the historic Northeast area. Fueled by water, pizzas and other snacks, around 60 volunteers made around 100 detailed flag paintings against the retaining walls lining Van Brunt Street.
Thrasher Foundation Repair company, Missouri Rep. Wick Thomas, Parks and Recreation volunteers and other local volunteers from around the city joined to help, too.
The painting efforts were set to be followed by a community celebration from 4 to 6 p.m. featuring Enrique Chi, leader and songwriter of Making Movies, and students from Art as Mentorship, according to a press release from Thomas’ office.
A citizen on a mission
Driving down the road when she first moved here from Salina, Kansas, in 2020, Beal saw the murals in a state of disrepair. With an intercultural world missionary degree from Central Bible College in Springfield and a history of community projects, she made it her mission to clean up the area.
“It was just a dream of mine at first,” said Beal. “I just said, ‘Wow, these are just in such a state of disrepair: graffiti, broken glass everywhere, the lights were out, the sidewalk is out.”
The decay of the area didn’t tell Kansas Citians that they matter, nor represent care toward diverse heritages, she said.
“This is something that we really need to let people know that there’s more out there; we’re all equal, and we are all unified,“ said volunteer Kalani Taylor.
The mural was first painted in 2007 by community developers, Old Northeast, Inc. With a $10,000 grant from Kansas City’s Crime Commission, the organization created the mural to put a stop to graffiti, according to KC Studio Magazine.
The mural represents KC’s heritage
In October 2025, Beal saw fit to get the ball rolling in the project, with the World Cup bringing international tourists. With guests from all over the world, she wanted them to see that their culture and heritage matter here in KC, she said.
“It’s truly a community legacy, and we are carrying it on. It’s almost 7,000 square feet of space that we’re painting, and it’s going to be sealed with a graffiti-proof varnish that makes them cleanable,” Beal said.
She started creating plans and consulting the city government for permissions beginning with the Municipal Arts Council. The council decides whether to approve art on any city property.
Beal received a “resounding yes” on her plan to refresh the Van Brunt mural, she said.
“I presented the need and the fact that we had so many communities wanting to get in and help and see them restored for representation,” said Beal.
She needed help materializing the plan. Kelly Turner, engagement officer at KC Parks and Recreation and Brookelle Connett, KC Parks and Rec volunteer coordinator, helped take the plan and bring folks together to make it happen, she said
“What came from all of that is an amazing, inspirational, interdepartmental cooperation from all of our city offices,” said Beal.
The city staff reportedly told Beal and her boyfriend, Daniel Bethe, that the two “moved mountains” in setting up this project and united city departments and community organizations to collaborate, said Bethe.
They had no idea the impact they were having because city staff finalized, launched and scheduled the plans, said Beal. Beal saw an issue in her community, and using her voice, was heard by city officials.
Community collaboration
Volunteers used their talents and worked together to revive the mural. Cara Hile lives in the south KC area, but came up to the neighborhood to help.
With past experience working at Nebraska Furniture Mart doing murals and installations, she saw that this was happening on Thomas’ social media and wanted to put that experience toward helping the community.
“It’s just a really nice symbol - especially with what’s going on federally - that Kansas City is a welcoming place and we welcome immigrants and want people to feel safe and happy in this community,” said Hile.
Thomas played a large role in revamping the mural, and not only by spreading the word. New flags were added based on Kansas City’s population. He helped pull together census data to know what people represent the area, said Beal.
“Our government and our communities together, united for a goal to improve our environment for everyone and represent all of our peoples who live here in Kansas City because the Northeast is the melting pot of the city,” she said.
