212 E. Main Street
Mural-in-a-Day
April 29, 2006

    It was a beautiful day in Barstow. At 8am the pre-prepped mural wall already looked spectacular as Master Artist Kathy Fierro had been working overtime to make sure the lines were clear for community muralists during the week before. We had about 20 people from the community help paint the wall throughout the day, with others stopping by to see what was going on.The mural was finally completed about 6:30pm and was cast in shadows from the setting sun.

    Of our spectators, one couple was visiting friends in the Barstow area for the weekend and decided to be one of the first to take our walking tour of murals between 1st and seventh avenues. Another man was on a cross-country bike trek from Florida to Seattle (he’s almost finished) raising funds to help Florida Hurricane victims. He lost his own home in the hurricanes last fall. A new Army resident back from Iraq and assigned to Fort Irwin came by with his young family to watch the activity. New downtown building owner Reynolds Ohai also stopped by to watch; he’s been rehabilitating the old two-story building at 111-113 E. Main Street. In addition, Steve Smith of the Mojave Valley River Museum led a couple groups in the morning on a tour of downtown discussing the more interesting historical aspects of the area. He’ll be leading additional tours this summer as well presenting slide shows.



The completed mural at 212 E/ Main Street (site of Desert Stationers). The community muralists signed their names below the mural. A list of mural sponsors (donated $200 or more) will be installed adjacent to the murals in the next few weeks.



212 E. Main – Before the Mural 212 E. Main – After the Mural Kathy Fierro mixing paint
The view from Main Street at in full swing Adding detail to one of the vignettes Main Street Murals President Juliette Tison is put to work
Happy with the progress of the gold nugget vignette A completed vignette looking like a real photograph Community muralists hard at work
One of the local artists sketching the action Finally lunch time for some painters Working on the thank you list
A Red Hat Society representative Steve Smith explaining the history of the El Rancho Motel on one of his tours Another mural on Main Street at the El Rancho
Washing paint brushes The mural unfolding behind a scale model of the proposed mural The completed legend
A special thanks to all who donated supplies, funds, and items for goody bags