Mural project to increase Sault Ste. Marie’s cultural vitality
Sault Ste. Marie’s streets and alleys are looking a little more colourful thanks to a community art project commissioned by the city.
Local and out-of-town artists are creating a series of murals across the city as part of the Soo’s Summer Moon Festival.
Mark Grandinetti, a local artist and kindergarten teacher whose mural is not quite finished, is working on Queen Street East across from GFL Memorial Gardens.
“It incorporates Greyhounds from the past, as well as kids because I really felt that Greyhound hockey is really a community thing here,” Grandinetti said.
“It made me think back to when I was a kid playing hockey and the hours that my parents spent at the arena. Also the amount of time my dad spent preparing an outdoor rink in our backyard.”
Other murals can be found in the Paul Mall alley downtown and at the former Etienne Brule School on Queen Street West. Todd Fleet, Sault Ste. Marie’s arts and culture coordinator, said the mural idea was first explored before the pandemic.
”We did a trial mural project with five murals back in 2019,” said Fleet. “Last year, due to COVID, we had to modify that. We just had a couple of murals. But this year, with the restrictions loosened up, we were able to do the full mural project.”
Organizers said the murals create destinations throughout the Sault that visitors and locals can access on foot. They say the murals are designed to increase Sault Ste. Marie’s cultural vitality.
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