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Annette Dodd had to jump through a few hoops before she could paint the “Greetings from Bangor” mural on the old brick building at the corner of Main and Union streets in 2014.
At that time, permanent murals were nonexistent in Bangor, she said. Since her colorful work inspired by a vintage postcard was completed, more murals have popped up, and the city now embraces public art, Dodd said.
“We are beautifying public spaces for everyone to enjoy,” said Greg Edwards, who works alongside Dodd, Kat Johnson and Susan Bryand as part of the Bangor Beautiful, a nonprofit that launched in 2022. “It’s about making the city more walkable and friendly to people from all classes.”
From painting murals to cleaning up the Kenduskeag Stream Trail, several local groups are working to make the city a more pleasant place to be. Those efforts are now attracting visitors to Bangor who support the local economy and boost community spirit, and get visitors and residents alike outside to better experience the city firsthand, city leaders said.
This year, Bangor Beautiful commissioned artist Matthew Willey to paint a bee mural on the building at 49 Park St. It is part of his Good of the Hive project, which features murals across the country that raise awareness about pollinators like honeybees and the interconnectedness of living things.
The group then chose Bangor High School student Jaeda Grosjean’s Sundial lupine design for a mural on the backside of One Lupine, a yarn shop at 170 Park St. Also this year, members planted six new trees at the intersection of Center and Park streets to enhance the area and provide shade.
Bangor, the Downtown Bangor Partnership and Versant Power collaborated to bring exterior lights to the Pickering Square parking garage in October. The lights can change colors depending on the holiday or season and are meant to make the city safer.
Betsy Lundy, Downtown Bangor Partnership’s executive director, sometimes hears a negative narrative about that part of downtown but this project was meant to highlight its assets.
The nonprofit also worked with sponsor Northern Light Health to bring a semi-permanent piece of public art featuring colorful umbrellas to Cross Street over the summer. The Umbrella Sky Project is inspired by similar pieces of art in cities all over the world.
“The umbrella sky was designed to be whimsical and give people a chance to pause and be reflective in an urban environment,” Lundy said.
The installation was damaged during a storm in August but it will return next spring with new elements, including “gigantic umbrella-shaped benches” that will go on the corners of Main and Columbia streets along with matching planters, she said.
Dodd, who is co-owner of The Rock & Art Shop and Sohns Gallery, believes this work is about building community, which in turn gives residents a sense of pride for their home, she said.
“It’s also about bringing visitors to see a unique northern city like Bangor, which is special even without the murals,” she said. “We have some interesting natural resources so close to our city, but having the artwork and trees and more gardens is going to attract people.”
Among its projects planned for 2024, Bangor Beautiful plans to collaborate with the Wabanaki Youth and Cultural Center to create a ground mural intended to add beauty to a busy section of the downtown and calm traffic. The artwork, meant to connect people to the land they walk and drive across, will likely run along Hammond Street and feature themes of food, land and water.
The group hopes to plant more trees in an area near Leadbetter’s Super Stop on Hammond Street, with the goal of making it safer and more shaded for pedestrians, said Edwards, who co-owns accounting firm Edwards, Faust & Smith. He and Dodd are also members of Bangor’s Tree Board.
Bangor Beautiful stepped in this year as a fiscal agent for Friends of Lower Kenduskeag Stream, a volunteer group that has worked for the past eight years to maintain the trail, he said. That support led to a $1,000 award from the Maine Trails Coalition, which will allow the group to do more improvements..
Residents can also expect to see an upgrade to the holiday tree that goes up in West Market Square each winter, which the Hollywood Casino is sponsoring. Lighting animation will be added, thanks to Hathaway Holiday Lights, and there will also be speakers with music, Lundy said.
The blend of projects intended to better Bangor, including longtime ones like the planting of about 150 micro gardens in the summer, are about giving people a sense of stewardship, she said.
“We want to promote that downtown belongs to literally everyone,” she said. “Everybody owns a piece and a square of downtown, and there are ways to create that community pride and buy-in.”