Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce celebrates building renovation and mural

By BRITTANY FHOLER

Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau joins other organizations and locations around town as home to a mural depicting a piece of Copperas Cove’s history following the unveiling of the Rabbit Fest mural inside the chamber building Friday evening. 

The Chamber of Commerce welcomed Chamber members and ambassadors and various city officials into the recently renovated building for its Summer Open House, with the main event being the unveiling of the newest mural by the Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful mural group. 

Chamber President Beth Galick-Carney gave a shout out to Rich Gast, who was responsible for the renovations before sharing the story behind the mural. 

“It’s so beautiful,” Galick-Carney said. “It’s amazing. We love it. It’s colorful, it’s fun, and it represents pretty much the biggest Copperas Cove tradition there is.” 

Linda Lapierre, who is a KCCB Commissioner and the KCCB Mural Lead, said that the Chamber gave her the inspiration and said they wanted it colorful, and she and her team used that inspiration and redesigned the layout. 

“I really relied on my students,” Lapierre said, referring to the three Copperas Cove High School students that worked on the mural. “I gave them some guidance, but then I trusted them, and they did not disappoint.” 

Lapierre is also an art teacher at CCHS. Her mural team consisted of KCCB Commissioners Crystal and Jonathan Owens of Rainbow Heart Studio, volunteers Amy Casto, Esther Munguia and CCHS students Makayla Gonzalez, Logan Charlson and Trever Poser. 

The mural features a cameo of Galick-Carney with her clipboard and of Lapierre in her vest picking up trash, along with one of the vendor tents labeled KCCB. The foreground of the mural shows three rabbits among wildflowers, including bluebonnets, with prickly pear cactus along the outer edges. The mural features the duck pond, the petting zoo, the Ferris Wheel and more vendor tents. At the top of the mural, in big letters, it reads “Copperas Cove, TX home of Rabbit Fest since 1981”. 

“We wanted to represent the longest standing tradition of Copperas Cove, which is Rabbit Fest, and obviously the Chamber hosts it every year, and we’re very proud to be the group that does that,” Galick-Carney said. 

Galick-Carney said that this Open House served as a dual-unveiling because of the recent remodel, which she said was long overdue. 

“We were just lucky enough to be able to do that because we did the shed raffle at Christmas time, that was donated by United Portable Buildings and then of course, all the amazing community, people that are members of the community, that purchased raffle tickets. I mean, the community helped us remodel it and that’s amazing,” Galick-Carney said. “So when the opportunity came up to have a mural put on the building, we were like, ‘Yes!’, and we knew immediately we wanted Rabbit Fest because there wasn’t a Rabbit Fest mural, and that’s what the Chamber does.” 

Galick added that it feels good to have these changes coming together and happening in her first year as Chamber President. 

The mural is accessible for photo opportunities during Chamber of Commerce office hours. The Chamber of Commerce is located at 204 E. Robertson Avenue and is open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.