Kansas Town’s Murals Boost Tourism

Kansas Town’s Murals Boost Tourism FARM HOME Miscellaneous Clay Center Kansas has a new attraction garnering national attention - a series of more than a dozen murals celebrating the community’s rural heritage These larger-than-life art installments known collectively as “A Mural Movement ” started out as a local Rotary project by club President Brett Hubka to encourage more tourism to the town The plan was to complete one or two smaller murals to attract interest and see how the community responded The town’s first mural which portrayed a sunflower composed of Kansas license plates inspired community support for a more significant art movement More than $150 000 in donations poured in and so far over 13 artists have been involved with designing and painting the city’s outdoor art Murals range from Americana motifs to art that celebrates Kansas’s rural heritage The largest mural to date on the Key Feeds feed mill covers approximately 7 000 sq ft and took a team of 5 artists 2 weeks to complete “Initially finding locations was the biggest hurdle ” shares Hubka “Thankfully many businesses took a chance on us and allowed us to do some of our initial murals on their walls ” Now interest has grown to the point that a tier system determines where each new mural will be located Whether businesses have a say in the final art depends on how much funding they put towards its cost Some fully fund the project while others donate the space and A Mural Movement’s committee designs and funds the concept It’s Clay Center’s hope that these murals will attract more people to the region to experience what makes it special “These murals have allowed us to showcase our town like we never have been able to before ” shares Hubka “When doing the mural tour visitors are not only able to enjoy our free public art but are also able to see our local free zoo parks shops and wonderful restaurants ”   Each mural also includes a scannable QR code that provides information about the art and displays a map of the other installments Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Brett Hubka 624 W Crawford St PO Box 260 Clay Center Kan 67432 ph 785 632-6720; bretth@gn-bank com

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