Muskego Vies for Prettiest Painted Place Honors

Muskego has been selected among thousands of entries to be in the running for the "Prettiest Painted Places in America."

Sponsored by the Paint Quality Institute, the “Prettiest Painted Places” competition has also drawn six other entries from Wisconsin:  Ashland, Darlington, Elkhart Lake, Evansville, Village of Hartland and Mount Horeb. 

Over the next few weeks, Muskego will vie with nearly 200 nominees from other states for regional and national honors, as judges with expertise in color selection, exterior painting, and home improvement review the entries, conduct additional research and make selected site visits.  Finalists will be announced in late September, and the nation’s 12 "Prettiest Painted Places" will be revealed in mid-October.

Tina Weiss, executive director of the Muskego Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, submitted the required 12 photos from around the city, including residential and commercial properties.

"I don't know how Muskego will fare in the competition, but we were thrilled to make the cut from around the state and in the nation," Weiss said.

The competition has been held only twice before, most recently in 2000.  Its purpose is to vividly show how something as simple as paint color scheme can greatly enhance the “curb appeal” of any structure’s exterior, and ultimately a community.

“The places involved in our competition are a tremendous inspiration to us all, and by giving them recognition, we hope to instill in the public a better appreciation for the role exterior paint can play in protecting and enhancing the appearance of any home or building,” said Debbie Zimmer, paint and color expert at the Paint Quality Institute.

A wide variety of “places” have been entered in the competition -- big city neighborhoods, tiny rural towns, historical districts, “Main Streets” and communities with exterior mural programs.  Nominees range from well-known places, such as Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Napa, California to hidden gems like Vashon-Maury Island, Washington and Bell Buckle, Tennessee.

In case you’re curious, the names and locations of all of the nominees are posted on the Paint Quality Institute website.