More than 100 volunteers brave heat to restore flags in Kansas City's historic Northeast neighborhood

KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland, including Liberty. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.

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More than 100 volunteers gathered in the historic Northeast neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri, to restore and repaint a collection of flags organizers say had gone without fresh paint for more than 20 years.

Community artist Fai Beal moved to the area in 2020 and developed a plan for the restoration project. The flags needed more than just a new coat of paint.

"They have been graffitied, trashed, peeled, people have painted things over them," Beal said. "And so we are here restoring them and bringing back the cultural representation."

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For Beal, the project was deeply personal.

"Every time we drove by these murals, I said, 'Man, that is so heartbreaking that people's cultures aren't being represented with pride and beauty and the respect they deserve,'" Beal said.

Volunteers painted side-by-side under the summer heat, with guidance from local artists. The process of working together turned strangers into neighbors.

"It feels like a miracle," Beal said. "It really does"

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Mike Elder, a volunteer and mural coach, said the collaborative nature of the project was exactly what public art is meant to be.

"The neat thing is you have to have a mural like this that's created not by one person, but by hundreds, literally hundreds of people," Elder said. "You know, that's literally what art is supposed to be. It connects people, and this has really done that."

Elder said the day took a physical toll, but he would not have traded the experience.

"It's been brutal," Elder said. "I've been fighting a little heat stroke, I think, all day today. I've said it 15 times today — I've just absolutely loved this day."

Cesar De La O moved from Mexico to Kansas City as a child and the neighborhood was his home growing up.

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He said the flags left a lasting impression on him as a child.

"I remember when these flags first came up, and being like a little kid, I used to be astounded by them," De La O said.

He arrived to volunteer at 7:30 a.m. Monday.

"It was like a calling," he said. "I was like, 'I got to be part of this project,'" De La O said.

De La O said painting the Mexican flag carried special meaning.

"Being able to represent Mexico here is kind of cooler to me," he said.

He said the neighborhood shaped who he is.

"I never gave up on my neighborhood, and this neighborhood is what made me who I am, to be honest," De La O said.

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Missouri state Rep. Wick Thomas, who represents the area in the statehouse, attended the event. Thomas said the diversity of the neighborhood is one of its greatest strengths.

"It's something that brings people together, that we have this incredible diversity and can learn so much from each other," Thomas said.

Thomas said he identified more than 100 countries of origin represented in the neighborhood.

"The World Cup may have ended, but the welcoming atmosphere of this neighborhood, of this community, of this district, that's not going away" Thomas said. "And that goes on forever, not just during the World Cup."

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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