![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Gables-building-murals-03-1100x732.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThad Dalby of Altoona paints his mural at 11th Avenue and 14th Street in Altoona on Monday as part of the Gable\u2019s building project for the nation\u2019s 250th birthday.
\nMirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski<\/p>\n
Last year on July 4, Elizabeth Garber sat by herself on a blanket in a field near DelGrosso\u2019s Amusement Park to watch the holiday fireworks. <\/p>\n
The grass around her was high, and the moon and the fireflies were out, and it seemed to be \u201ca little piece of fantasy come to life \u2014 a slice of the most vibrant parts of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
As one of 20 artists chosen recently to adorn 20 panels covering windows on the Gable\u2019s building prior to a proposed renovation, Garber is trying to replicate that scene \u2014 and the feeling it evoked in her \u2014 with paint on plywood. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pure and innocent,\u201d Garber said of the experience a year ago. \u201cJust delightful.\u201d<\/p>\n
A partnership between Altoona Blair County Development Corp., the city, ArtsAltoona and the Mirror arranged for the painting of the panels in hopes of improving the aesthetics of downtown during the transition period for Gable\u2019s.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Local artists began painting murals on Monday as part of the Gable\u2019s building project for the nation\u2019s 250th birthday.
\nMirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski<\/p>\n
The partnership received almost 70 applications for a chance to paint one of the panels, according to Main Street Manager Jamie Baser Foust.<\/p>\n
An eight-person committee ranked the applications, which included samples of past work and a brief explanation of the concept behind each proposal.<\/p>\n
The applications were stripped of identifying information to prevent bias.<\/p>\n
The artists chosen were those with the highest composite scores.<\/p>\n
The partnership held a panel-painting \u201ckickoff\u201d Saturday, in coordination with Levity Summer Fest, so that the 10 artists who participated got to start their work under the gaze of spectators and with live music in the background, Foust said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Gables-building-murals-02-1100x732.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Thad Dalby of Altoona paints his mural at 11th Avenue and 14th Street in Altoona on Monday as part of the Gable\u2019s building project for the nation\u2019s 250th birthday.
\nMirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski<\/p>\n
The deadline for the artists to finish is the end of July, although the partnership is encouraging them to finish or at least to be well on their way before Independence Day, so the panels will look good for the many visitors in July, including those that come to the YMCA race downtown on the Fourth and those that come for the visit of the Big Boy locomotive the following week, according to Foust.<\/p>\n
There will be a $1,000 award based on the opinions of a group of judges and a $1,000 award based on votes that can be cast on the Mirror website.<\/p>\n
Garber, 30, comes from an artistic family and has always been artistic herself.<\/p>\n
Her cousin, Sarah <\/p>\n
Garber, painted a mural last year on the side of the Railroad Retirement building in the downtown, and their grandmother, the late Mardell Garber, painted billboards for Penn Advertising, devised the logo on the New Look Uniform & Embroidery building near the southern split of Valley View and Pleasant Valley Boulevard and created murals still visible in First Church of Christ and the Bellwood-Antis Public Library.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod gave me the penchant for it,\u201d Elizabeth said.<\/p>\n
She began to take art seriously in 2019, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when my paintings started to look good,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth had a showing at her cousin\u2019s Clay Cup coffee shop in the downtown and more recently at Main Street Mercantile in Bellwood.<\/p>\n
She usually paints outdoors, \u201cen plein air,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She found out about the Gable\u2019s panel painting contest via a Mirror article.<\/p>\n
\u201cI decided to give it a shot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Just around the corner from Garber on Monday afternoon, fellow artist Thad Dalby was painting a montage of local iconic objects, with the K4 steam locomotive the central focus, but with the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, the Edith Davis Eve Memorial Chapel at Penn State Altoona, Baker Mansion and the Mishler Theater all possibilities to be included.<\/p>\n
Dalby started his work with a head-on drawing of the locomotive on a sheet of paper, then transferred that to the panel. He is using various photographs to ensure the accuracy of his representations.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s using outdoor acrylic paint, which dries fairly fast.<\/p>\n
All his life, he\u2019s been into visual art, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just drawn to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He got early encouragement when he drew an orange sailboat as a kindergartner, reproducing an image he\u2019d seen when his parents took him to Glendale Lake.<\/p>\n
Everybody said nice things about that effort, he said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s gotten in deeper in recent years since his retirement and his two children having reached adulthood.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s relaxing,\u201d he said about the work. \u201cIt\u2019s a nice way to spend your time.\u201d <\/p>\n
Still, he\u2019s \u201can amateur,\u201d he said, repeatedly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to be included,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t intend to get too cocky.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.<\/p>\n
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