CAMS’ Art in Public Places Initiative kicked off this week by launching the first of several huge murals in Heber City. The Community Alliance for Main Street (CAMS) partnered with Heber City and the Heber Valley Chamber of Commerce to create the artwork. According to Mayor Kelleen Potter, the murals are “an investment in our downtown. Data shows investing in downtowns brings back great returns, often $3 for every dollar spent.”
The inaugural mural will be on the north side of the Heber Valley Visitor’s Center at 475 N. Main Street. It will be visible to the approximately 15,000 cars that pass through daily. An estimated 30% of these drivers are visitors to Heber. The finished mural will be about 27 feet across and 8 ½ feet high.
Local artist Jason Quinn was selected out of 15 muralists to complete the initial artwork. The artist spent a month planning the mural. He said it will probably take him another month to finish it. “They wanted to put something here that would identify . . . or send a message of who Heber is, and what they are aspiring to be,” said Quinn. “So as people come into town, the first thing they see is what Heber is proud of. . . . Everything they offer here [recreationally] is world-class. I think what [Heber] would like to do is point out that there are a lot of reasons to slow down and take it in.”
The initiative will produce 6 to 12 murals, with at least one being completed per year. Tom Stone of CAMS explained, “We are going to have different locations. We have a couple private businesses that have donated their space that will put up some other murals as well. . . .We are getting top-notch, high quality people to come in and do the murals.”
Mayor Potter added, “I think you’ll see some things from our history, from our future, from our present. It’s going to create a feeling.”
More information about the Community Alliance for Main Street can be found at https://hebercitycams.org/
