Since it appeared on the side of an old smokehouse in 2009, the simple message has become a symbol of positivity for the Dunwoody community: “Everything Will Be OK.”

The phrase has taken on a new meaning in the age of the coronavirus, as the unknowns surrounding the pandemic grip residents with anxiety and force local businesses to close their doors.

The Dunwoody Police Department recently posted the expression on an electronic sign as “a little motivational message” amid the crisis.

Dunwoody residents now have their own chance to spread the hopeful message while giving back to their community. Create Dunwoody and the Spruill Center for the Arts — where the mural is located — have teamed up to sell “Everything Will Be OK” yard signs.

The profits will go to local artists and art teachers “who have been financially impacted from gallery, studio and school closings due to coronavirus,” according to Create Dunwoody, an organization that promotes the arts in Dunwoody.

The yard signs on Create Dunwoody's website.

Credit: Create Dunwoody

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Credit: Create Dunwoody

The yard signs cost $20 each, and will be delivered to homes in the 30338 ZIP code. Residents can also make donations to help local artists on Create Dunwoody's website.

Artist Jason Kofke created the original "Everything Will Be OK" mural at the opening of the Spruill Gallery's 2009 Emerging Artists exhibit.

Located at the corner of Ashford Dunwoody Road and Meadow Lane, the sign was replaced at one point, but "an outcry from the public called for the sign's permanent return," the Spruill Gallery said on its website. The current display is a replica, but "its message has not faltered and nor has the response."

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