In celebration of Canada's 150th anniversary 150 mosaics are being created across the country, one of which is being made right here in Portage La Prairie. The $14,500 project is being spearheaded by the Portage Public Art Committee and the final product will be installed on the outside of the PCU Centre some time before July 1st 2017.

Portage School Board trustee Yvette Cuthbert is involved in the project and explains more.

"The actual mural is eight feet by twelve feet, so it's big but not big. There's 650 tiles, all four inches square, and we really wanted it to be a community project."

The mural will depict a boxcar and each of the tiles will be hand-painted by members of the community, from Terriers to firefighters to city councillors. Over half of the tiles will be painted by students in local schools, Cuthbert explains.

"There are 380 students [painting tiles], we were hoping for 400, and then the other 250 are dispersed throughout the community."

The tiles will be painted from Wednesday, November 2nd to Friday, November 4th. Not all the tiles have been assigned and anyone, no matter the artistic ability, is welcome to come down to the PCI west multipurpose room at 4:45 on Friday to help paint.