What a year for LoveOly Painters!

As the year winds down, we’re taking a moment to celebrate the incredible work of the LoveOly Painters. With buckets of paint, steady brushes, and a whole lot of heart, this team has made a visible difference in Downtown Olympia. Their efforts are a testament to the power of community coming together to create a cleaner, brighter, and more welcoming downtown.

Here’s what the LoveOly Painters accomplished this year, and let us tell you—it’s impressive:

• 135 tags cleaned up, from small 1-square-foot scribbles to massive 50-foot-long, 7-foot-tall eyesores.
• 19,000 square feet of graffiti removed, with a focus on highly visible areas that matter most to downtown businesses and visitors.
• Mural restoration projects, bringing art back to life.
• Even several near-total building paint jobs, ensuring some of our most iconic structures stay beautiful.

These numbers only tell part of the story. What makes these accomplishments so meaningful is the coordinated effort behind them.

A New Approach to Tackling Graffiti

This year, we launched a streamlined, three-step process that’s changing the game:

1. Report – ODA staff catalog graffiti and report tags quickly.
2. Respond – The LoveOly Painters, working closely with the City Clean Team, tackle the most visible graffiti right away and schedule less visible tags for cleanup soon after. In addition, the Alliance contracts painters to work on 2nd-floor projects.
3. Track – Every cleanup is documented, giving us valuable data on types of tags and response times.

This coordinated effort ensures we’re not just reacting but staying ahead, making Downtown Olympia a place we can all be proud of.

Partnerships That Make a Difference

None of this would be possible without the close collaboration between the City of Olympia, the Olympia Downtown Alliance, and our amazing local citizens. When public, private, and nonprofit sectors come together, the result is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

Building Community, One Brushstroke at a Time

Beyond the numbers, the best part of this work has been connecting with our community. Whether it’s a business owner grateful for a fresh coat of paint or a passerby stopping to chat during a cleanup project, these moments remind us why we do what we do. Our painters never tire of hearing how their work lifts up our historic downtown.  At its heart, this effort is about people helping people.

To everyone who reported a tag, picked up a brush, or cheered us on from the sidelines—thank you!