"We all were thinking... two walls near the window of the cafeteria?" Oak Street PTO Vice President Christine Corrigan said at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Oak Street Mural on Friday.

Local artist Caren Frost Olmsted had a different idea in mind.

After a massive outline lined the halls of the school, three weeks of painting that included an opportunity for every student at Oak Street School to join in and some last minute finishes by Olmstead, the Oak Street mural was dedicated on Friday, March 5 – spanning over 100 feet of the school's hallways and walls.

The project was commissioned to honor the 250th anniversary of Bernards Township and the 70th anniversary of Oak Street School in 2009. "We wanted to do something to commemorate the two events," Corrigan said in a previous interview. "And we all felt strongly that the kids should be involved in whatever it was."

Several parents and their children attended the dedication, where Corrigan, Olmsted, Bernards Mayor Scott Spitzer and Oak Street Principal Jane Costa cut a ribbon to officially dedicate the mural.

"This is a very special day for Oak Street School and for the township," Spitzer said. "This is a very special part of our [town's] 250th anniversary, and Oak Street School's 70th anniversary. And what better way could you celebrate it than to have a mural like this."

The mural depicts historical landmarks and scenes around town, including the Great Oak Tree, the Brick Academy, Van Dorn Mill, the English Farm, downtown Basking Ridge, Lord Stirling Stables, Lyons train station, Oak Street School and more. "This mural represents the past and present," Spitzer said. "But you [the families of Oak Street School] represent the present and the future. And that's what is special about the mural."

The project took six weeks total to complete, and started with Olmsted's coloring book style outline of the mural. Two to three classes of students a day took time painting the mural under the supervision of Olmsted and PTO volunteers. "They did every single step of it," Olmsted said. "I went back in and added highlights and details but the kids did everything."