Winnetka dedicates town’s first public mural

Green Bay Trail users may enjoy a pause the next time they pass under the Oak Street bridge in Winnetka.

That is the location of the Village’s first mural, a collaborative effort between the Village of Winnetka, the Friends of the Green Bay Trail, and the Winnetka chapter of the National Charity League that was formally dedicated on Wednesday. The ceremony celebrated the public artwork and the young women who painted it.

In January, as The Record reported, members of the National Charity League, a philanthropic organization that comprises mothers and their daughters, pitched the idea of a mural to the Winnetka Village Council. The idea received positive feedback, and a short time later began making its way through the Village review process, culminating in its approval and painting over the summer.

During the dedication ceremony, Winnetka Village President Bob Dearborn said the idea for the mural first pitched to him in November 2025 by National Charity League Winnetka co-founder Deidre Campbell and Steve Huels, Friends of the Green Bay Trail president.

He called the mural an idea of an “amazing group of two civic organizations that gave the Village an opportunity to do something meaningful for the community, to work with these groups at Village Hall and bring something to life here. And this is what’s happened.”

“I’ve got to compliment the young ladies of the National Charity League,” Dearborn said. “They came and presented this concept at Village Hall, [to the] Village Council. It can be a little intimidating … but they did a great job.”

He praised the collaboration between the village and the organizations.

“You know, not all communities have that,” he said. “They just wanted to make this community a little bit better, and they made it a whole lot better by this mural. Congratulations, ladies, for that.”

He concluded his remarks by thanking everybody who was involved in the project on behalf of the Village and left open the possibility for more collaborative efforts in the future.

National Charity League member Audrey Miller told The Record that “it was a lot of work” getting the mural project off the ground.

“From Day One, we were on the mural committee and we went to the meetings, we planned how we were going to fundraise, we went around knocking on doors,” she said. “It was a lot of work, but it’s really rewarding coming here and seeing how it’s really taken effect [and] how many people love it.”

Assisting the National Charity League with the mural was area artist Shayne Taylor, whose previous works on her website include murals.

Taylor said that she came up with the proposal for what the mural should look like after taking with NCL members.

“They said they wanted something inspired by the trail,” she said. “The mural is our local flora and fauna that you can find on the trail.”

She praised the work of the NCL members.

“Each of the girls was very involved,” Taylor said. “It was so organized. It was a pleasure working with all the girls and moms.”

Miller described the mural as a “paint by numbers” work, with Taylor putting numbers on the wall that corresponded with a specific color.

She said that more than 230 NCL members took part in the painting, signing up for specific times to work together. Miller said she painted with her mother, most recently 2-3 weeks before the dedication.

“When I left it was about halfway done and the detail was nowhere near this amazing,” Miller said. “It’s super impressive to see the impact it’s had, and how many people were down here enjoying it [as it was being painted].”

She called it “really cool” to see the mural go from an idea to reality.

“I’m so happy that me and my NCL crew could be able to do this for the community,” Miller said.

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