LIVING HERE
Lake Geneva is getting closer to approving murals for downtown business walls.
This is a wonderful street art phenomenon that has brought tourists to many cities all over the country, just to have their pictures taken with some famous works of art. Mural walks are a huge draw for families, artists, and anyone visiting the area (that has them) because it’s free, unique to that area, and anyone can participate.
The Lake Geneva Business Improvement District (BID) started the discussion of bringing murals to downtown last year, wanting to offer a more cultural experience to visitors and help draw in more of the artistic crowd. Members of the BID have reached out to the businesses to get thoughts and opinions on the idea before delving too far into the project. The responses from the downtown businesses have been overwhelmingly positive, and many are looking forward to adding a mural on their own property when the time arises. BID commission members Alethea Salgado and Janine Osborne have taken on the project because it is a passion of theirs to bring more art-inspired events to Lake Geneva. The very capable ladies from the BID have really done their research by reaching out to other communities that have created a mural walk for their cities in order to get an idea of the process and everything involved so that no detail will be left undone.
There has even been a discussion of the local commissioners visiting Kenosha to see its murals and to ask questions and get a feel for how Lake Geneva could benefit from such an event. To move the project forward Aletha and Janine brought their idea to the plan commission to explain their vision and what steps are necessary to allow the murals on the downtown businesses. Members of the commission were excited to hear about the opportunity of bringing artwork to the downtown area and look forward to working with the BID to make it happen.
The next step is changing the ordinance to allow murals. The best way to accommodate the needs of creating such a new idea is to form a committee to handle the details. The new committee will consist of BID commissioners, city officials, and representatives from the downtown businesses. They will be deciding what will be allowed in the artwork, which artists to use, and anything else that may need to be addressed. This is an exciting and fresh idea to help brighten up the downtown area. This will bring a fresh new crowd to enjoy everything this wonderful city has to offer.
