May 21, 2023 - Bijou Park

Around Our Town with Gene Merritt

Blog number 7

May 21, 2023

Work has begun on the new mural for Bijou Park

Completion of the new mural for Bijou Park in downtown Wilmington is expected to be completed around the end of this month, according to Arts Council Executive Director Rhonda Bellamy.

Ano’n, a husband-and-wife team of Jhonattan and Samantha Arango, has been hired to create the Bijou Park mural. Their proposal was one of 34 submissions received by the Arts Council to create a mural to occupy the north side of 221 North Front Street, facing the newly renovated Bijou Park.

The Bijou Park Mural Project is a public/private partnership composed of the Arts Council of Wilmington, PNC, Wilmington Downtown, Inc., and downtown developers 221 North Front LLC, East West Partners, Port Property, J. Clark Hipp and Susan Dillard, CLD Engineering PLLC, Jon T. and Denise M. Vincent, and McKinley Building Corporation. Those parties are owed a debt of gratitude by the citizens of Wilmington.

According to the Selection Committee, the Arangos bring the expertise, knowledge, experience, and professionalism in developing large mural designs with an added community engagement element that invites all ages to participate in the project. In that regard, over 200 local folks worked on the mural recently, according to Rhonda Bellamy.

A recently awarded $ 25,000 grant from PNC Foundation will help fund the mural’s development.

The completion of the mural will complete the Bijou Park improvements by the City of Wilmington. Bijou Park provides a walkway to Water Street from Front Street.

Around Our Town with Gene Merritt

Blog number 7

May 21, 2023