Coloring a community: New coloring book connects Orem children to their hometown
-
- Mike and Alma Loveland pose with the Orem coloring book at their home on Friday, July 18, 2025.
-
- A mockup of the Orem coloring book is shown.
-
- Mike and Alma Loveland pose with the Orem coloring book at their home on Friday, July 18, 2025.
Orem City has found a creative way to help its young residents familiarize themselves with the city where they live this summer.
Children who complete the city library’s summer reading program are awarded with an “Orem! Family City USA” coloring and activity book, full of details and factoids about the city.
Across 64 pages, kids can learn everything about their community, getting a visual glimpse of where municipal water comes from and how firefighters respond to an emergency.
There’s a scavenger hunt page that challenges families to find various landmarks around town and a silly section detailing Orem’s lore.
The book was created by “Your Very Favorite” coloring book activity creators Mike and Alma Loveland and Holly Sparks, in coordination with Orem City Events Planner Sydney Bailey and Orem Communications Manager Pete Wolfley.
City officials said it’s a first-of-its-kind citywide coloring book, and it will become available to the public Aug. 1.
“This is one of our favorite projects that we’ve probably ever worked on.” Bailey said. “Everybody has had such a positive response to it. … It does show our history. It shows what a fun place it is to live in Orem, and it just brings all of it together.”
The project was inspired by a previous book the Loveland’s made about the American Fork Library. That got the Springville couple on the radar of Orem, where the library team was looking for a unique prize for the kid’s reading program that fit this year’s theme, “Color our World.”
Bailey said contact was initiated with the Lovelands in March. The artists began working on it April 1 and finished it in June.
“So a little over two months,” Alma Loveland said. “And it’s our sole focus for that time. Just take on one big project. And that’s what we love to do. It allows us to really focus, hone in and do a deep dive.”
Mike Loveland created the illustrations, Alma Loveland did the graphic design and Sparks drew the lettering. They worked with the city to determine what information to provide and let their creative juices run wild.
One of the more intricate sections has a spread of Orem’s orchards, with multiple trees, peaches and people drawn across two pages. There’s a nod to the infamous 2009 incident when Utah Flash fans were duped into thinking Michael Jordan was showing up to play in a one-on-one game against former Utah Jazz player Bryon Russell.
“We really make it to entertain ourselves, and we fill it with information and facts and stories and activities that engage us as adults,” Alma Loveland said. “We find that our books naturally do that as well, and they end up being something that’s shared and loved by the whole family.”
The book was particularly meaningful to Mike Loveland, who was raised in Orem and said his upbringing influenced his artistic career. His next-door neighbor, and one of his mentors, was artist James Christensen. The James C. Christensen Memorial Playground in Orem is included in the book.
“I grew up on a street where being an artist was not this scary thing. It was seen as a viable career,” Mike Loveland said. “I’m grateful for that, because it’s just always been what I’ve wanted to do.”
Mike Loveland also said many of the illustrations he drew jogged childhood memories, such as one about Officer Friendly, a former police man who used a puppet to teach kids about safety.
The couple hopes they created something that Orem residents can resonate with.
“Here’s a great project that we get to do to honor this great city and this great place to grow up,” Alma Loveland said.
One mother of two daughters who completed the summer reading program, Anela Menezes, said she grew up in Orem but is finding things she didn’t know while reading the book.
“I think I’ve been down every street in Orem, but I didn’t know there was a building with a blender on top of it. I think adults would love it as much as kids,” Menezes said.
Her daughters have been interacting with the coloring book since they picked it up at the library, and it has been a fun activity for the family.
“It just really gets them engaged with their hometown,” Menezes said. “They’re growing up here, so it really gets them happy and proud to be part of Orem. And I think I also noticed it gets us doing things together as a family, like the city scavenger hunt. We get in the car and we go look for those things.”
Once the summer reading program is completed, the coloring book will be on sale at city events.
“We’re really excited for it, and we hope that other cities will be able to adopt their own because I think there’s unique things everywhere,” Bailey said. “But we’re super proud of it, and we couldn’t be more excited to color it and enjoy it for the next couple years and hopefully have another one in the future.”
