By NATE KING
Salina Post
The first thing that grabs your attention when you step into Kansas Hempire in Salina isn’t just the well-organized shelves of hemp-based wellness products or the colorful assortment of knits and sweaters — it’s the walls.
A bold mural filled with technicolor mushrooms and the phrase “Good Vibes” in groovy, oversized lettering stretches around the shop, instantly inviting guests in and setting a relaxed tone — just as owner Megan Carolan envisioned.
Before Kansas Hempire, the building at 1300 S. Santa Fe Ave. was home to the House of Sight and Sound, a local music mecca that pulsed with vinyl records, incense, and underground energy from 1971 until its closure in 2011. For Carolan, keeping that counter culture spirit alive was never a question.
“I always believed this building still had so much potential,” Carolan said. “I knew it needed to be a heady-style shop — a place where people feel safe, creative, and accepted.”
To bring her vision to life, Carolan enlisted Junction City based muralist Mindy Allen, whose bold, colorful designs already had a strong following in the community.
“I’d followed Mindy’s work for years,” Carolan said. “I wanted an artist who naturally fit the energy of this space, and she absolutely delivered.”
For Allen, the project felt like a perfect creative match.
“It was a design that was right up my alley,” she said. “Once we scheduled a date, I was really excited to get started. I enjoyed the whole process.”
The mural wraps around several walls inside the store, and Allen approached it one section at a time. She began by taking photos of the space and planning how each wall would flow into the next.
“I try to make each wall feel connected, but also let it have its own identity,” she explained. “Each piece is kind of like its own mural, but they all work together.”
Painting the space involved layering multiple coats of bright, vivid colors — especially challenging for shades like lime green.
“To get those bright tones to pop, you have to build them up,” Allen said. “The lime green took several coats, and I had to start with a lighter color underneath just to get it to show up over the gray wall. Otherwise, it looked like colored water.”
Allen said her daughter, Haley, joined her in the painting process, which not only helped the project get done faster, but also made the experience all that more enjoyable.
The Kansas Hempire mural is one of several large-scale projects Allen has taken on. In 2024, she completed a mural on a grain elevator in Inman, Kansas, celebrating the region’s agricultural history and the legacy of 150 years of Turkey Red wheat.
“That elevator was a challenge, but one of the most rewarding projects I’ve done,” she said. “And it showed me I could handle big, complicated surfaces — which really helped with this wraparound mural.”
Carolan gave Allen full creative freedom, which Allen said she appreciated.
“The more freedom an artist has, the better the result can be,” she said. “Megan was great to work with — very easygoing and open to ideas.”
Carolan said the finished mural has already made an impact.
“It’s about making people feel something,” she said. “When they walk in, we want them to feel connected.”
The two plan to collaborate again soon on a mural at Carolan’s Abilene location. For now, the vibrant interior mural at Kansas Hempire — located at 1300 S. Santa Fe Ave., Salina, KS 67401 — serves as a tribute to the city’s creative spirit, past, present, and future.