Returning to the bluff stairs in downtown St. Joseph this summer will be a temporary mural. The St. Joseph City Commission approved the installation this week. St. Joseph Today’s Amy Zapal tells us this will be the fourth year for a stair mural. They’ve been a popular edition since the summer public art installations were discontinued.
“People loved the changing of that every year, the reinvention of it,” Zapal said. “It was a great thing that drives interest in St. Joseph as well as southwest Michigan. So, the mural became something that would do the same thing.”
Zapal says she originally pitched a permanent stair mural to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, but they instead opted for a model with temporary murals that change each year.
“Every year that I go back to them and ask for a renewal of permission, I thank them for the ability to put put something different there every year. So I really credit the parks board for their creativity and their ability to figure out a solution.”
St. Joseph Today will pay for this year’s mural with help from the Schalon Foundation with an expected cost of around $15,000. Zapal says the design for this year’s mural has yet to be determined and she looks forward to hearing ideas from artist Nate Baranowski, who also did last year’s mural. It’s hoped the mural will be finished in time for Memorial Day.
Pictured: last year’s mural
