'Most murals I’ve seen in a small town': Festival pushes St. Thomas, Ont. past 40 murals

The city of St. Thomas, Ont. may soon have to change its slogan from the 'Railway City' to the 'Mural City'.

The Track to the Future Mural Festival this weekend saw an additional nine more murals added to the more than 30 that already existed.

"It all started with a few boxcar murals at the Railway Museum and we kicked it into high gear," says Megan Pickersgill, St. Thomas’ tourism manager.

The city brought in talented artists from around the province for the festival which allowed residents and tourists to see the muralists work live on their projects.

Windsor, Ont. muralist ‘Derkz’ paints the side of the Central United Church in St. Thomas, Ont. on Sunday July 17, 2022 (Source: Brent Lale/CTV News London)

"It’s probably the most murals I've ever seen actually in a small town," says 'Blaze', a Toronto-based artists who was in St. Thomas for the first time.

"My project is based on a vintage greeting card," says Blaze, painting the side of a building on Talbot Street in the heart of the city.

"I'm sure you've seen them before where it says greetings from the location with images based on that location within the lettering. So I've kind of have my own take on that kind of modernizing a little bit."

At Central United Church - the former site of the emergency homeless shelter- Windsor Ont. based artist 'Derkz' was bringing vibrant colours to west side of the building.

"For such a small community, they're bringing big vibrant murals and they're bringing some heavy hitters into the city," says Derkz.

"When people just walk by this trail. I wanted to kind of capture their eyes."

Both the artists and the communities they work in see the benefits of public art. It can change the atmosphere in a downtown.

"Once public art gets installed, more people come to check it out, take pictures, they end up going to the visit local businesses and spending money at the local businesses," says Blaze.

"That money that comes from local businesses ends up going back into public art as well so it's a really beautiful full circle thing that happens with public art."

Derkz agrees that every city benefits from these type of installations.

Windsor, Ont. muralist ‘Derkz’ paints the side of the Central United Church in St. Thomas, Ont. on Sunday July 17, 2022 (Source: Brent Lale/CTV News London)
"When you have a smaller town and you kind of fill it with like bright, beautiful colors, it tends to attract more people, and you get a lot more events," says Derkz.

While the majority of projects are complete, residents can watch Blaze and Derkz finish their work over the next few days.

"Some of them are still being worked on and you can come see them, but they're going to be all completed by the end of the month," says Pickersgill.

"We've got a mural tour that anyone can pick up and do anytime. So it just really is a way to tell our story and get people exploring St. Thomas."