At the City Council meeting on Mon. May 17th, a new design was proposed for the Cape Girardeau Riverwalk in hopes to make a memorable impression of the town to visitors and river boats passing by.
The new artwork is a postcard-like text that says ‘Welcome to Cape Girardeau Missouri’ with local landmarks and notable spots within the town inside each letter.
The creators of the design stated that the current mural is over 30 years old and slowly decaying, therefore an out of date, inaccurate representation of Cape.
“The other one [mural], there were a lot of landmarks that were out of date or not even in existence anymore. This one is a classic postcard mural, all over the nation there are a lot of towns and cities that have these, so it is something recognizable right away,” said Craig Thomas, freelance artist and street painter responsible for the new mural image.
Thomas explained that mural artwork is part of Cape’s history, and he hopes the contemporary design will be able to contribute to the ongoing legacy.
“I painted the existing mural after the 93’ flood, and the thing that really amazed me was just how many people came to see the river, and the murals help pull people downtown, and stay in town longer,” said Thomas.
During the meeting the group discussed with local leaders statistical projections for the process.
The entire renovation of the mural is projected to take around two months to complete, with the removal of the current mural, taking about a week to ten days.
The group mentioned that the new design is intended to last longer due to the implementation of a modern, more resistant paint, with multiple layers.
The proposed plan is to raise the artwork five feet above the walls edge to avoid flood water damage.
Out of the estimated $70-78,000 cost, $13,000 in donations have been raised to fund the project.
The city council requested an in-depth breakdown of the budget proposal at the next town meeting.
