Kewanee Black Knights Walldog mural

The Kewanee Black Knights were a drum and bugle corp founded post-World War 2 by returning veterans in 1949.

According to the Kewanee Star Courier, "The corps quickly rose to national prominence and from 1954 through the early 1960s placed in the top 10 nationally as well as winning many state and regional contests. Like Kewanee Boilers and the Kewanee Ballhawks, the Black Knights put Kewanee on the map.
By the mid-60s, senior corps began to fade as the men got older. The Kewanee Black Knights disbanded in 1964."

There were later iterations of the Black Knights, including a revival of the junior corps (originally dating back to pre-World War 2).

Our goal now is to honor the original Black Knights in paint, by adding a mural to our Walldog pantheon of historical Kewanee, and, in turn, honor all of those that have ties to the Black Knights organization throughout the generations.

In the summer and fall of 2018, we held rounds of voting, first with written ballots, and then through votes-as-monetary donations, from which the Kewanee Black Knights emerged victorious (true to their history in the drum corps!). That has given us a great start toward our $10,000 funding goal.

With the $10,000 reached, we will paint this mural on the side of the Spets Brothers building, facing Main Street, at the corner of 3rd and Main, during the annual Prairie Chicken Festival in mid-July. The Prairie Chicken Festival was created to both commemorate the 2013 Walldogs meet in Kewanee, and its 15 murals, as well as to continue the energy and creative spirit fostered in during the meet.

This mural will be the 18th Kewanee Walldog mural, and will be rendered in high-quality and high-durability Nova acrylic paint. It will be designed by Scott "Cornbread" Lindley, of Mt. Pulaski, Illinois, the lead organizer of the 2013 meet.

This page will be updated with renderings and pertinent dates as this project progresses.

We will have two commemorative plaques:

Sponsorship Plaque: Donations of $1,000 or higher will cause names to be added to this plaque. Sponsors will be listed according to amount sponsored.

Memorial Plaque: Former Black Knights and their family or supporters can have the Black Knight's name added to this plaque for a donation of $500. It will read "In Honor Of..." with the Black Knights' names following in alphabetical order. This title can be given to all generations and iterations of Black Knights, as they all can take pride in this mural commemorating the founders.

We will have a dedication ceremony when the mural is complete. If other donations would like to be given 'in honor of' past music teachers, supporters of the arts and music, or simply big fans of the Black Knights or drum and bugle corp shows, they will be compiled and read during the ceremony. Please feel free to indicate and share their story in the comments section.

If donors wish to remain anonymous, we respect that and are grateful for your support.

We thank all who support Kewanee, the Walldogs, our murals, and our music programs. Music has been shown to be a pathway toward success for so many students, instilling discipline, a love of culture, and event giving brain benefits akin to learning a second language. It is a part of us that we can carry for a lifetime, as so many former Kewanee Black Knights have professed.

Thank you for your support of the Kewanee Black Knights, the Kewanee Walldog murals, and the continuing revitalizing and re-engergizing of the City of Kewanee.