Brushstrokes & Big Hearts: LoveOly Painters and the Power of Civic Spirit in Downtown Olympia

By Anna Schlecht, President of Rainbow Community Arts (Alliance Design Committee Member)

This article is part of Alliance Committee Voices, an ongoing series highlighting stories from committee members of the Olympia Downtown Alliance.

Never underestimate the power of a couple of volunteers with a little paint and a lot of community spirit, because that’s what has driven LoveOly Painters to help keep Downtown Olympia clean and vibrant, one paint job at a time.

The First Brushstroke

Our work began back in 2014, when a group of City of Olympia employees decided to spend some vacation time repainting the deteriorated façade of the old Griswold’s building. At the time, this block had become a hotspot for unlawful activity, including hate crime targeting the LGBTQ+ community.

That fresh coat of paint was quickly followed by a mural, and together those civic projects helped breathe new life into the block. In time, the site became the Old 99 apartment building, a reminder that oftentimes meaningful change begins with something as simple as picking up a paintbrush. In 2015, we partnered with the Olympia Downtown Alliance, making it easier to raise money for paint and equipment. LoveOly Painters has been busy ever since. Since becoming an Olympia Downtown Alliance program, LoveOly Painters have cleaned up nearly every alley wall and many storefronts.  With many of our projects, we’ve gone beyond painting over tags to fully repainting buildings with a perfect color match. Just last year, we repainted over 27,000 square feet, which is the equivalent of a 28-story building façade.

Preserving Olympia’s Large-Scale Canvases

LoveOly Painters works closely with the City’s Clean Team to ensure a rapid response to graffiti. Every wall we clean up helps reinforce the message that this is a downtown our community cares for. So far in 2026, LoveOly Painters has focused less on repainting and more on restoring murals in partnership with Rainbow Community Arts.

Pictured here is one of Rainbow’s artists, Nichole Rose, who has helped to restore several community favorites, including the NEXT mural, the untitled mural nicknamed Cartoon Critter Line-up and the Olympia Dragon Mural.

These murals tell the story of our community, and we’re proud to play a role in helping preserve them for everyone who lives, works, and visits downtown Olympia.

Ready to Roll?

If this sounds like a meaningful way to give back to your community, we’d love to have you join LoveOly Painters.

Operators are standing by to sign you up for a paint team!  Fill out our volunteer interest form and select ‘Spring CleanUp’ and ‘Fall CleanUp’ to join our next painting opportunity.

Together, we take care of the places we love, and we all love our downtown.

Downtown Olympia is an open-air gallery! Dive into the City of Olympia’s mural map to discover vibrant artwork bringing our city walls to life!