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Wichita Leaders, Community To Celebrate Improvements To 9th Street

Carla Eckels/KMUW
Artist Ellamonique Baccus engaged over 100 Wichita residents to assist with the "Cultivating the Seeds of Our Future" mural.

State and local leaders will join with Wichita residents this weekend to celebrate improvements made to Ninth Street from Hillside to I-135.

Credit Courtesy photo
Kwanzaa Plaza is a new addition on Ninth Street, was designed by Ellamonique Baacus. It features artwork by Janice Thacker and Tina Murano with help from members of the community.

The $3.5 million project completed over the last year includes paving, drainage and pedestrian upgrades throughout the corridor. More than 100 residents also collaborated with local artist Ellamonique Baccus by painting and placing tiles on a Kwanzaa Plaza and a new mural titled "Cultivating the Seeds of Our Future."

"What is most important to me," Baccus says, "is to make sure that the values and the stories of the community are preserved and that there's a platform for them to be heard and that when they look at this, they feel encouraged and motivated and they feel connected to one another."

The ceremony will be held Saturday, Aug. 31, at 10 a.m. near 9th and Minnesota. Parts of Ninth Street will be closed during the event.

Carla Eckels is director of cultural diversity and the host of Soulsations. Follow her on Twitter @Eckels. To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

Carla Eckels is Director of Organizational Culture at KMUW. She produces and hosts the R&B and gospel show Soulsations and brings stories of race and culture to The Range with the monthly segment In the Mix. Carla was inducted into The Kansas African American Museum's Trailblazers Hall of Fame in 2020 for her work in broadcast/journalism.