TELL CITY, Ind. (AP) — Sam Schaefer has been hip-deep in bottles of beer, soda and milk for nearly two years.
The Tell City, Indiana, native and graduate of Herron School of Art in Indianapolis has been creating an homage to the many bottling companies in his hometown responsible for quenching the thirst of the Southern Indiana river town’s residents over the many past decades.
“I’ve got a lot of breweries, of course, and a creamery,” Schaefer said. “I don’t think any of them are even around anymore.”
Less-known brands such as NuGrape Soda, Cheer Up lemon soda and Chero-Cola share the space with well-known brands such as Coca-Cola, Fresca and Orange Crush.
“The Owens Family who owned the Coca-Cola Bottling Company donated the money to have something like this done,” he said. “They just wanted to do a history of all the bottling that took place in Tell City.”
The mural stretches across a 44-foot-long and 11-foot-tall section of the Tell City concrete flood wall near Sunset Park. Schaefer gets a lot of waves and short honks from folks heading into the park that sits on the north shore of the Ohio River. He offers a greeting and a smile and gets back to work.
“It’s getting pretty close,” he said of the project which he power-washed, sealed pockmarks and primed before beginning the fun part. “I’ll have it done this year.”
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