Recently we visited St. Thomas, Ontario. It is a beautiful town full of history and was once a central hub for the railroad industry and rail travel. One of the activities we did was a mural tour. Murals are a great way to beautify a town and also a great way of expressing the history of the community. Many places now have murals painted on the sides of buildings that I cannot keep up with all the new ones being placed.
I have created a map of the murals in Ontario and Quebec I found or listed on the internet. I use this map in my travels. Sometimes, I go to a place where I cannot find the mural. That happens. For whatever reason, the mural is painted over, or it was only meant to be a temporary one to cover some damage or something.
My map of the murals in St. Thomas was accurate, except for some that I could not find. This confused me. St. Thomas recently had an event celebrating their murals and published their locations on their website. This event was only months ago, and the likelihood that the murals were already taken down was not possible.
I remained confused.
We would return home, and I looked again at the website.
I changed from confused to determined.
Upon reexamining the website, I learned that the missing murals were, in fact, still there. I had just missed them. I missed them because they were mini.
I fell in love with this concept.
Murals are big.
Murals are huge.
Murals are to take up a lot of space, and then there were these mini murals.
What an amazing idea!
Charlene and I would return to St. Thomas the following weekend, and I was determined to find these mini murals. I did!
These mini murals are usually on the ground. Some are found with other murals, but some are independently, making them even harder to find. But because these are so mini, I fear many of them will not survive the winter because they will be destroyed when someone removes the snow.
That is why I suggest going as soon as possible to visit these mini murals before they are gone. I love this idea of trying to find miniature art, and it is an excellent thing to do with kids or a kid at heart!
Plus, their big murals are pretty cool too.
- I have added the locations of the mini (and not-so-mini) murals of St. Thomas to my Ontario and Quebec Mural Map. It is a free download and works with Google Maps.
