Mendota mural expected to transform feel of downtown

When it comes time to celebrate the 75th annual Sweet Corn Festival, Mendota expects to have a 127- by 50-foot mural of the Union Depot greeting visitors.

“You’re not going to be able to miss it,” said Michelle Wade, of Triple Service, Inc., the family business at 801 Monroe St. where the mural will reside.

She said Tuesday during a public presentation at Main Street Station Bar & Grill she’s hopeful the public art will transform downtown Mendota, similar to how another North Central Illinois (NCI) ARTworks project on the Silo Pathways tour enhanced downtown Streator.

DeAnna Carlson, of NCIArtWorks, said the completion of the Heritage Park Vintage Wall in 2017 in Streator positively affected 34 buildings and businesses within a two-block radius, with buildings being sold/purchased, occupied, a new business opening or with facade improvements. The city also had more murals painted downtown by the Walldogs and its City Council set up a facade grant program to restore storefronts, but the public art has become a destination point in the downtown for visitors.

“It was a tremendous transformation for the downtown area of Streator,” Carlson said.

Carlson said public art has the potential of drawing in visitors in the form of railroad enthusiasts, fans of public art, or travelers just looking for something interesting to see off the interstate, noting there are more than a million passersby annually in the Interstate 80/Interstate 39 corridor.

The mural will be the second work of public art in Mendota on the Silo Pathways Countryside Public Art Tour, with the Mendota Gold silo art across the tracks from where the depot mural will be.

“It is going to be majestic,” Wade said. “ ... We are going to have the railroad history of Mendota on one side and the agriculture that keeps it going on the other side. The idea is to create tourism and put Mendota as another place on the map of Illinois.”

Work has already begun by artist Ray Paseka and his team at Westclox Studios, Inc., Wade said. The mural is a half-scale painting of the iconic 250- by 100-foot Mendota Union Depot that was built in 1888 and demolished in 1942. It will be constructed of hand-painted aluminum sheets, mounted on a steel support grid.

Wade said Tuesday the community is half of the way to reaching its $143,000 fundraising goal since unveiling the idea of the mural in August. Wade leads the project and has an eight-member volunteer citizens committee raising awareness, gathering information about railroading, seeking grant funding opportunities and fundraising.

“I believe in our community and I believe in this project,” she said.

Another public presentation is planned 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9, at Main Street Station Bar & Grill, 714 Main St., Mendota. The public is invited to attend if they have any questions or want to talk about the project with organizers.