A new community inspired Bulkley Valley mural can be located at the Smithers Visitor Information Centre in Central Park.
According to Chamber Manager Sheena Miller, staff and summer students wanted to upgrade the building and had the chance to do so this year while there is a low volume of travelers and visitors coming through the building.
One of the students, Savannah Parsons, reached out to a local student artist, Emerenne Safkow to redesign and paint the visitor mural.
Miller added the chamber reached out to Roy Henry Vickers who is an Indigenous artist to collaborate and share some ideas for the mural.
Miller says the collaboration with the different artists has been exciting and refreshing.
“It’s so exciting to work on something that’s going to be a mural that’s got a legacy and reflects symbols of our community and then also collaborating with young students is also pretty exciting,” she said.
She added she has heard from visitors the mural brightens the Central Park area.
According to Miller, the idea of the mural came forward around six weeks ago.
She said local businesses have sponsored the mural.
“It’s a big collaboration of different businesses and every time businesses have supported us we say, what do you want to see on the mural or what do you think represents our business community, it just turned into a great collaboration project,” she said.
Miller added she feels the mural will be a great opportunity to stimulate conversation and interpretation.