Never let it be said that Kaitlynn Parrish and Matilda Malcolm don’t know how to productively fill downtime.
    The two, Parrish a Wauneta-Palisade High School junior and Malcolm a 2019 graduate, have completed a large mural decorating one of the walls enclosing Palisade’s Centennial Park on the town’s main street.
    On a practical level, it was a way for the two of them to fill idle time forced on them by the coronavirus pandemic. But on a deeper level, it was a way to promote unity in the community, they said.
    The murals — actually a triptych, three paintings meant to be displayed together — have a “sun” theme. The piece on the left represents the sun in the morning; the more abstract middle painting shows the sun in the afternoon; and the section on the right shows the sun setting behind a windmill.
    They are complemented by a mural on the opposite wall painted by McCook tattoo artist Ginny Anderson. That shows hands spelling out “unity” in American Sign Language and flowers that each have their own specific meanings.
    A little extra decoration came Friday, when elementary school students were brought to the park to make chalk designs on the sidewalk in front of it.
    The idea came about after a Rotary leadership camp Parrish planned to go to was canceled due to the pandemic. Parrish received a letter from camp organizers urging campers to do a community project in lieu of attending the event.

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