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When Downtown Danville Association (DDA) first started planning for a mural program, our objectives were clear. We wanted to do something that would bring people downtown again!

DDA has been working for the past five years to revitalize the downtown district by using the Main Street Four-Point Approach ™ and has, in fact, made some remarkable progress. There are now 21 businesses and over 60 employees downtown that were not there five years ago. Almost $2M has been spent in private improvements to downtown properties, most of that in the last eighteen months. That figure does not include purchase of the property, it represents money spent to improve the property inside and out. Thanks to a very generous façade grant incentive program provided by the City of Danville, 22 store fronts now sport gleaming new faces, and four new façade projects are currently in the works.

If you have been downtown lately, you will notice the difference. Years spent laying groundwork and making small, incremental changes within the framework of the four revitalization committees is finally producing results. New banners proudly proclaim our standing as a nationally recognized Main Street Community. Flower baskets and planters brim with bright floral displays. And, the Martin Luther King Bridge has been completed with a dynamic Gateway treatment to the intersection of Main and Craghead, where the Historic Tobacco Warehouse District and the Historic Downtown District come together.

So how will a mural program add to the mix? There are three major contributions to our City that a comprehensive mural program can make:

· First, it would fill a void for easily accessible public art in the community.
· Second, it will stimulate economic development in the Historic Districts by attracting tourists to Danville to view the murals.
· Third, it will provide a panoramic history lesson that will tell Danville's stories with sensitivity and respect and instill a sense of pride in our community.

As DDA began to put a mural plan together, we looked to the City of Dothan, AL for guidance. Dothan has been designated as a "Mural City" by virtue of the fact that they have more than ten murals in their city. They have set up a comprehensive group of committees that manage every aspect of the project, including project concept, artist selection, site selection, fundraising, marketing and promotions as well as committees that are responsible for seeing that the murals are maintained properly and landscaping around the mural is complimentary. Local government officials, civic leaders, artists, art enthusiasts, historians, businessmen and members of the community at large work together to make sure that Dothan's mural district is managed with a high degree of quality.

It was just this time last year that we were fortunate enough to travel to Dothan and meet the artist of several of the sixteen completed murals in their city. Wes Hardin has taken walls that looked ready to crumble and turned them into masterpieces. While I have to admit, I was not prepared to be as impressed by these murals as I was, you cannot imagine until you are standing in front of a panoramic artistic history lesson just how breathtaking they can be. As we toured his city in the sultry southern heat, we had many, many questions for Mr. Hardin. He agreed to come to Danville and look around a bit to see what we had to work with. And he was smitten! Often, we take for granted the things we see everyday, and it takes an outsider to point out the wealth of treasures we have. Wes Hardin was quick to appreciate our rich inventory of historic buildings and when he heard about some of the stories we have to tell, he grew even more enthusiastic.

After nearly a year of research, forming committees and working on local ordinances, DDA is ready to begin a mural program that will enhance the revitalization of the Downtown and the Tobacco Warehouse Historic Districts and promote economic development through increased tourism while providing an artistic documentation of historic events in and around the city of Danville.

We would make one of the most important aspects of our mural program the project concepts. We would not be simply painting pictures on walls. While that does have a beautification effect, as well as helping to stabilize any deterioration in the walls, there is so much more we can do. We can tell Danville's own stories! When approached with sensitivity and respect, these murals can be a tribute to our proud heritage and an easily accessed depiction of the historic events that have brought us from a tiny settlement at Wynne's Falls in 1793 on the banks of the Dan River to the Southside's premier technological and research center that we are becoming today.

With the very first mural, we hope to begin drawing a national audience by using the "Wreck of the Old 97" as the subject. This unfortunate event has been elevated to national prominence by the ballad that has been performed by several country music artists. We feel that this mural should be in a very prominent place in order for it to draw the most attention and Judy Derrick, owner of The Atrium furniture store at the corner of Main and Memorial has agreed to let the artist use her building as his canvas. And in order to insure the quality of the work, we will commission Wes Hardin, a veteran mural artist not only to paint the first mural, but also to mentor our local artists in the technical aspects of mural art.