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Where’s your town’s future mural?

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Historic mural with cows, a barn and a windmill

I’m not saying you can’t have historical murals. I’m just saying you can have future murals, too. Photo by Becky McCray, from Kingfisher, Oklahoma.

Every town needs a future mural, or a series of them.

Seems like every small town has a history-themed mural, but very few have a future-themed or even modern-style mural.

Many towns use old photos as displays, including in empty buildings. They do get people talking about what you used to have. But how are you engaging people in talking about what you will become? 

If every single display depicts your past, what is showing your future?

For every historic image, do a one-to-one match with a future image.

We spend enough time reminding people our town has a past. We don’t spend enough time reminding people our town has a future.

Update: Colfax did a future mural!

Colfax, Washington, took this idea and now it has a robot mural! It’s kind of a retro future take on American Gothic with robots set in their local landscape.

Mural: retro future take on American Gothic with robots set in a landscape reminiscent of Tuscany.

Photo by Sarah McKnight

Colfax also has a historic mural, showing the town as it was in the 1880’s. It did look a little lonely, surrounded by a big stretch of blank wall.

Mural showing the main street of Colfax, Washington, as it was in 1881.

Photo by Becky McCray

Here’s their update. The blank wall now has a bright colorful design all the way across, framing the existing mural. They say the Palouse region of Washington State is the American Tuscany, full of rolling hills, farm fields and wildflowers. This mural really makes the most of that.

Bright colorful mural showing the landscape around Colfax, Washington, framing a smaller mural of historic Colfax.

Photo by Sarah McKnight

Did you do a future mural? Send me pics!

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.

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