Youth volunteers from the town's new Community Graffiti Removal Program were back in action last week but cleaning up and repairing damage to the community's four cherished outdoor downtown murals will have to wait.
The necessary materials for mural repair and maintenance are too costly for local businesses, and program officials are being forced to go to town council to get financial help.
“It is something that is quite expensive even for the business owners, and the four murals are something of value for the community so I think we may look at it as a community-wide effort and see if we can get some support there,” said Tammy Oliver-McCurdie, who heads the volunteer youth program and who is also the manager of the local Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) office.
“We are just waiting to get some approval on some stain before we start removing graffiti and start putting some art on it,” she said, adding businesses should attempt to remove graffiti as soon as possible before it becomes too difficult to take off. “We don't want it (mural) to be wrecked again. We need to put the stain on at the same time that we remove it.”
Sometime during July vandals used green paint to tag the large mural on the west side of a business building at 5035 – 49 St. The mural, created during a month-long project in 2000 by Bowden-area artist Rose Ufland, honours Innisfail's past pioneer country grain elevators and water tower, structures that have long been demolished.
However, Oliver-McCurdie said protective stain that had originally been put on the mural 14 years ago has deteriorated and a new and more expensive coating needs to be put on, which will also be applied on the three others in the downtown core. In the meantime, local RCMP continue their investigation into the deliberate destruction of the mural.
However, the setback did not deter Oliver-McCurdie, who was joined by town peace officer Ryan Anderson, from leading a group of six volunteer youths on Aug. 21 to clean up at least two cases of graffiti vandalism, one on the same building where the damaged mural is located. It was the third outing this summer by Oliver-McCurdie and volunteer youths from the Side Door Youth Drop-in Centre, the Phil-Can Neighbourhood Association of Innisfail and the town's new Youth Programming Facility.
“Some of this is actually quite nasty and not even good art,” said Stephanie Anne Croswell, a 14-year-old volunteer youth from the Side Door program.
Oliver-McCurdie said next year she would like to introduce a program to educate youth on where they can do appropriate graffiti. The town currently has the graffiti wall at Ritson-Bennett Park but it is becoming increasingly full and a second wall in town is being considered, said Oliver-McCurdie.
She added there is also consideration on bringing a qualified graffiti artist into the community in 2015 for the youth.
“It's to teach the kids how to do positive graffiti and where they actually do graffiti that is appropriate,” said Oliver-McCurdie.
For more information or to volunteer with the new graffiti removal initiative call the Innisfail FCSS office at 403-227-7744. The town also has graffiti removal kits available on a first-come, first-served basis to assist property owners in removing graffiti. Call 403-227-3376.
