Vibrant Colors, fascinating stories make Muralfest pop in TD
By Tom Peterson
Day two of the Northwest Mural Fest brought a lot of vivid colors and exciting detail as 15 new murals are transforming the downtown corridor in The Dalles.
Walldogs - artists and skilled sign painters from all over the world were hard at it in the extreme heat on Thursday, Aug. 25, as works of art took shape and beads of sweat rolled. To learn more about the event click here or vist the Northwest Mural site here. Or just enjoy the photos below.
Scott Holland, 41, of Whidby Island puts some splash on Les Dalles on a mural explaining how The Dalles got its name. The entire volume of The Dalles used to push through a two-mile channel of basalt about 150 feet wide here at The Dalles. French fur traders, many of which were in this area, referred to tight rocky water channels as “dalles.”
Tom Seibert also works on the Mural about the naming of The Dalles as Crystal White watches. The Mural is being painted on the Hear’s the Answer building on Second Street.
Chief Tommy Kuni Thompson lead the Celilo or Wyam Village from the late 1870s to the 1950s and was a strong advocate for the treaty right to harvest salmon and a strong opponent of the dams, which flooded Celilo Falls in 1957. The Falls were an ancestral fishing ground for his people and had supported them, in large part, for thousands of years. Artists working in the mural are Miranda Ensink and Jasper Andries. They get the most miles traveled award as the Walldogs are from Amsterdam.
We caught this crew taking a break - and rightly so as temps capped 100 degrees. They were outside of Oliver’s Floor Covering where painters were bringing the Sorosis Club to light. The Club was responsible for many civic goods, including the preservation of the Surgeon’s Quarters at Fort Dalles Museum, and, of course, Sorosis Park.
The Dalles Dip celebrates a past summer swimming hole on the Columbia River as well as the ferry boat crossing to Dallesport.
These guys are no dips - they knew when to take a break on Thursday afternoon when temps were high. They all were having a great time - in the shade.
