Visitors to Issaquah will have a luxurious new option when browsing hotels in the area.

SpringHill Suites by Marriott has opened up a brand new, five-story location on Northwest Maple Street.

And on the afternoon of June 15, the VIPs of Issaquah and Sammamish gathered at the new space to open up the new lodgings in celebration.

Josh Bang, the hotel’s general manager, said that he envisions the hotel’s clientele as being business travelers during the week, and families, sports teams and cruise ship passengers on the weekends.

“It’s very exciting,” he said of opening Issaquah’s first SpringHill Suites. Bang said he loves Issaquah because it is “a larger town that has kind of a small-town feel.”

It was a gray and stormy day outside, but inside the SpringHill Suites, the atmosphere was bright and cheery — and not only because of the lollipop bouquets (a signature of SpringHill Suites) and the rainbow of balloons decorating the tables. Rows of pop art pictures of young students lined the room, adding not only color, but a unique Issaquah personality to the space.

Done in the style of iconic pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, the pictures were created by the fourth graders at Issaquah’s Clark Elementary School as part of a class art project taught by parent volunteer Jennifer Krohn. The students traced photos of themselves doing everyday activities, transferred the tracings from vellum to paper, then went over the image with Sharpie and color before transfering it to a canvas.

“It teaches them spending time on an art project, what you can get when you spend a lot of time on something,” Krohn said.

Even before opening its doors, the SpringHill Suites integrated itself with the community by partnering with Clark Elementary School to donate art supplies to the school’s art program, which is run entirely by parent volunteers.

Megan Matuszewski, the hotel’s director of sales, explained that the SpringHill Suites chain has a campaign called “Save Art!” to “promote art in elementary schools.” Each time SpringHill Suites opens up a new location, it joins with a school in the area to help increase the students’ art education.

Clark Elementary School was chosen because, with one-fifth of students on free and reduced lunch, it is the lowest-income elementary school in Issaquah, explained Clark parent volunteer Katja Magus.

Magus said that people typically think of Issaquah as a very well-off area, not realizing that there is a disparity in parent income levels between the different schools that can affect different elements of students’ education, such as how much students are exposed to art.

“All art supplies are provided by the parents,” Magus said. “The state doesn’t fund it.”

With parent volunteers responsible for teaching art and buying supplies in Issaquah schools, Magus explained that schools in wealthier parts of the district — where parents can donate more money for supplies and can volunteer more time because they may not have to work full-time — have “three times the art supplies.”

“Research shows that art helps with everything else you learn,” Krohn said.

The artistically-talented fourth graders at Clark Elementary School created these pop art pictures. Nicole Jennings/staff photo

The pictures depict the students themselves doing everyday activities, such as taking photos and drinking Cola. Nicole Jennings/staff photo

The pictures depict the students themselves doing everyday activities, such as taking photos and drinking Cola. Nicole Jennings/staff photo

It was gray and rainy outside, but inside the SpringHill Suites, the atmosphere was bright and cheery. Nicole Jennings/staff photo

Clark fourth grader Elias Saarela points to the picture he created while his mom Mira looks on. Nicole Jennings/staff photo

Local singer Larry Murante entertained the guests for three hours. Nicole Jennings/staff photo