A celebration of Hastings. That was the inspiration behind a new downtown mural featured on the corner of 2nd Street and Hastings Avenue. The Hastings Community Foundation partnered with the Hastings Community Arts Council and Community Redevelopment Authority to fund the project.

“Each letter of Hastings is a scene representing parts of the community that make Hastings unique,” said Dani Schwinn, mural artist. “The hardest part was narrowing it down because there are so many things to love about our community.”

If selecting the scenes was the biggest issue, the sheer size of the project was the next obstacle that she had to overcome. The solution involved a little artist math.

“I drew out the letters on graph paper and scaled them up on the wall,” explained Schwinn. “Each square on my graph paper represented six inches. The letters with straight edges weren't too bad, but the curved letters took a couple of attempts and extra points of reference. I essentially made myself a giant dot-to-dot drawing for the two Ss and the G. Once the math part was done, I was in my comfort zone, which was painting the scenes.”

The HCF contributed to the mural from our Community Grants program and the Brenda John Memorial Fund. The mural was completed at the end of October.