After towering over Mount Jackson, Virginia on Interstate 81 for more than a decade, the town's well-known water tower, adorned with the image of a basket of apples, was due for a makeover. Exposure to the elements, such as UV radiation, moisture, and salt, left the tank with rust spots both internally and externally. Mount Jackson's Town Manager at the time, Kevin Fauber, shared details of the tower's design. He stated, “the design of red apples filling a wooden basket is plastered on 3M sheets, similar to vinyl that adhere to the sides of the water tank.”
The apples, according to Fauber, pay homage to the town's apple orchards, as well as Bowman Andros Products, a Mount Jackson-based company that makes apple-based products such as apple sauce, apple butter, and apple juice.
“It's important to the town and I know that a lot of citizens and tourists identify that tower with the town of Mount Jackson,” Fauber remarked.
The task of revitalizing Mount Jackson's iconic water tower was given to world-renowned muralist Eric Henn, whose award-winning work can be seen in several towns across the nation.
Suspended 150 feet above Interstate 81, Henn freehanded a new design to the tower, utilizing 16 different hues of Tnemec's Series 700 hydroflon. According to Henn, the custom colors were painstakingly mixed and blended to create each apple.
“When I'm up there, I'm basically looking at the picture and I'm making a shape of the apples before I fill it in,” he said. “So it's pretty much like doing an oil painting, but on a steel structure.”
His paint of choice, series 700 Hydroflon, is an FEVE-based fluoropolymer, ideal for high-profile jobs like the apple basket tank. Coatings systems that utilize Lumiflon FEVE resin technology offer superior weatherability and durability, allowing surfaces to withstand exposure to elements that contribute to early coating degradation. Fortified with unparalleled color and gloss retention capabilities, as well as being anti-corrosive in nature, FEVE fluoropolymers can preserve the structural integrity of a coating system for decades.
In the case of Mount Jackson, Virginia, this iconic basket of apples will remain in pristine condition for many years, representing its town proudly.
“For a lot of towns, it's their identity,” Henn shared. “It says they have pride. It's not just a rusty water tower with block letters, it's something that people remember.”
Header Image courtesy of American Silo art
Image courtesy of Mount Jackson
