Floodwall mural grant on Parkersburg City Council agenda

PARKERSBURG -- A light Parkersburg City Council agenda on Tuesday will include a resolution to apply for a federal grant to assist with the third phase of the floodwall mural.

The only other item on the agenda for the meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building, is a resolution authorizing the sale of alcohol for multiple downtown events. They include Downtown PKB's Taste of Parkersburg, Point Park Concert Series and Downtown Throwdown; the Parkersburg Art Center's Tastes & Tunes and ArtOberfest; and the Wood County Society's Spring Fling.

Volunteers organized the Parkersburg Floodwall Mural Project and raised funds for the mural designed by Parkersburg native Chris Santer. Phase One started in the summer of 2021, as Santer and others, including local art teachers and students, transferred the first section -- displaying mountain scenery -- onto a 20-by-160-foot section of the wall.

Last summer, Santer began adding the piers of the downtown railroad bridge, which will frame historic scenes of the area. Santer added one illustration of downtown Parkersburg during the 1913 flood and half an image of Blennerhassett Island.

In October, council voted to allocate $30,000 to the effort. The resolution on Tuesday's agenda aims to use that money as a local match to leverage an additional $30,000 from a National Endowment for the Arts grant, Mayor Tom Joyce said.

Joyce said he's received "overwhelmingly supportive comments" about the mural effort.

The legislation included with the council agenda says the funds would go toward phase three of the mural, where the mountain scenery transitions into sheet music for the opening of John Denver's West Virginia anthem, "Take Me Home, Country Roads."

Santer will return this summer to complete the Blennerhassett Island image and add more bridge frames, with four new artists set to contribute inset panels, said Edward Escandon, project director for the mural.

"We're going to be doing a much bigger section than we did last summer," Escandon said.

There are still opportunities for additional artists to contribute panels this summer and in the future, he said, directing interested parties to the Parkersburg Floodwall Mural Project Facebook page or parkersburgflood.org.

Organizers have raised approximately $60,000 for the effort, not including the funds allocated by the city.

"We're still approaching private parties and other foundations," Escandon said.