ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

For the past few months, the Ruby Red Slipper Slide by the Convention & Tourism Bureau was gaining a faded look and recently, a local business took up the task of refreshing it.

Touch of Class Painting recently spent time repainting the slide, and co-owner Randy Lemmons said the project took a lot of work.

“There were some people in town who had contacted me and asked me if I could do it. I know they had approached about three different body shops in town, and then they called me,” Lemmons said. “I've done some different things with the City of Liberal throughout the years, like restoring some planes at the Mid-America Air Museum and a few other projects throughout town. I was approached probably about two months ago, and it was about a week-long project, but the weather kept not agreeing with me because I was using an automotive paint that's made to do in a controlled environment, so it was  very difficult to catch the right weather outside to do what I did. And it took quite a bit of work – we did a lot of sanding, then we did a epoxy primer, automotive primer, and then the top coat was metallic ruby red. On top of that, I put three coats of clear for UV block so it won't fade out. We used a very high-quality paint, so it should last a nice long time. It was a good little project, and I’ve already heard multiple compliments about it.”

Lemmons added seeing the finished project was a good feeling.

“A lot of the people I've talked to have been really pleased, and we’ve met quite a few people who come along and take pictures with it,” Lemmons said. “A lot of those people want to know where that ruby red slipper slide is, and it's a really good attraction for the city. My favorite part was I got to start putting color on it – we got to a point when I thought, ‘Man, this is going look nice,’ and I was just so pleased with how everything was coming out. Then once we put the clear coat on it, that gave it a really nice shine and made it look really pretty and set it off.”

Lemmons added there were tourists wanting to experience the slide even while the work was going on.

“I had some people taking pictures of me while I was working on it, and I s told them, ‘Be sure to come back when I'm finished,’” Lemmons said with a chuckle. “Dorothy's House and the museum attract a lot of people, and then they see the slide and they think ‘Oh wow!’ I felt like I was working a real nice project people around here appreciated, and the people who came through really thought it was cool how we have that slide. I feel like everything turned out really well, and after we finished it, I just stood back after I got all that color code on there and thought ‘Oh man, this is beautiful.’ Now that it’s done, I hope a lot of people stop back by and take a slide down it, it’s really fun.”