New mural promotes Williamsburg
Visitors to the Williamsburg Tourism and Convention Center are now being greeted by a large mural, which runs the length of one side of the building facing 10th Street.
“I have been on Facebook the last two days and everybody has been very complimentary of it,” said Williamsburg Tourism Director Alvin Sharpe. “It has been needed for long time, something on that wall.”
The 113-foot long and 16-foot high mural was installed on May 23.
It contains more than a dozen photographs of various places or things in or around Williamsburg ranging from Kentucky Splash and the courthouse to historic homes and Cumberland Falls.
“We racked our brains to see what we could put on there and to make sure we had some of the history. It has everything that really brings out Williamsburg I think,” Sharpe noted. “It is eye catching. I hope that it doesn’t cause any wrecks,” he said laughingly.
The goal of the mural is to provide something besides just a blank wall and to promote the city.
Sharpe said the idea for the mural came about three or four years ago and there had even been discussion of painting a mural on the wall.
He said the idea of a painting was nixed because that side of the building gets a great deal of sun and officials worried that a painted mural wouldn’t hold up well.
The idea for the picture mural came about after tourism officials started looking at the large pictures that the University of the Cumberlands started displaying at places like the football stadium.
After doing some more research, tourism officials then contacted Lexington-based Lynn Blue Printing, which did the university’s displays, and contracted with them to install the mural, which cost $6,400.
The Williamsburg Tourism Commission paid for the mural.
“It has turned out a whole lot better than I ever expected it to be,” Sharpe added.