The City of Beaumont is set to host the third annual Mural Festival, Feb. 29.-March 3. Mural Fest is a four-day, live art showcase with artists from across the country and the world. Muralists will be painting throughout downtown Beaumont and the surrounding area. An artist meet and greet will be held, Feb. 29, from 7-9 p.m. at Pour09 Bar & Rooftop, 6165 Muela Creek Dr., Suite A.
Attendees will have the chance to get to know the artists. The live mural painting event will start on March. 2, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and continue March 3, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Beaumont Event Centre. As well as live paintings there will be food trucks, kid zones, live music, and a vendor area to buy artwork. This year, Mural Fest sees 14 artists return from last year, and will feature 18 local artists. Six cubes will be painted by muralists, and two additional cubes will be available for attendees to paint on.
In addition, five murals spanning 8,000 square feet will be painted on the Giglio Distributing Co. warehouse located across from the Event Centre. One of the murals was featured in the cover of Texas Highways magazine this month. Juliana Davila, Digital Media Specialist for the Beaumont Convention and Visitors Bureau, said she is ready for the event.
“Essentially, we’ll celebrate our local talent here within Beaumont and the areas, along with artists that we have invited from other parts of the U. S. as well as international artists,” she said. “So, it’s basically a huge celebration of art and our culture and our identity.”
Davila said she would like Beaumont to be known as an art city, where local artists could be celebrated, as well as welcoming people into the community to share their talent.
“Essentially, this is our opportunity to give Beaumont that kind of cultural identity of being able to be the kind of a place where public art is not only welcomed, but then also celebrated,” she said. “(We want) to show people that we have local talent, as well as we welcome people into our community to share their ideas, to share their talent, to share their thoughts — just to remind people that Beaumont is beautiful and that it is a place that celebrates and welcomes all different kinds of people.”
