MURAL: PROJECT WORK COULD BEGIN IN NEXT WEEK

Work on a 320-foot-long, 14-foot-tall mural could get under way as early as Tuesday along the Mississippi River flood wall in downtown Cape Girardeau.

"We've been in contact with painters. The color rendering for the giant mural is expected to be in Cape Girardeau this weekend, and everything is almost on `go,'" said Tim Blattner, a spokesman for the River Heritage Mural Association, which is heading the project.

More than half of the funding is intact, said Blattner Tuesday, in reference to the $16,000 project.

The Downtown Merchants Association voted $3,000 to the project during a recent meeting, which put the funding over $9,000. The goal could go over the top if the Cape Girardeau CIty Council approves the recommendation of the Convention and Visitor's Bureau, which recommended a total of $7,000 to the project, $5,000 in cash and a $2,000 contingency fund for repair and maintenance of the giant mural.

The city takes action on the bureau's recommendation during its meeting Monday.

"If it passes, we start painting Tuesday," said Blattner. "We figure it will take about four and a half weeks to complete, assuming we have decent weather and the river doesn't rise."

That would be just in time for Riverfest, said Blattner.

Riverfest is a two-day downtown celebration held each June. This year's Riverfest is scheduled June 7-8.

The actual cost of the mural, to be painted on the river side of the flood wall, is about $11,000, with the remaining $5,000 set aside for maintenance and repairs of the mural, said Blattner.

In making his presentations to the downtown merchants, and earlier to the visitor's bureau advisory board, Blattner pointed out that the river would have to reach a stage of 39 feet before the water would touch the design.

Blattner said the river had been above the 39-foot level on five occasions over the past 13 years.

The mural will include several buildings, Indians, a train, a steamboat and historic figures symbolic of Cape Girardeau. The mural was designed by artist Fred Lincoln of Memphis, formerly of Cape Girardeau.

C.P. "Chuck" McGinty, of C.P. McGinty Jewelers Inc., and Charles Hutson, Hutson Furniture Co., said the Downtown Merchants Association approved $3,000 in funds when the group saw the preliminary drawing.

"We were apprehensive at first," said McGinty. "But when we looked at the drawing, we were impressed. This will be a dynamic mural, and will be an added attraction on the river side of the wall."

"It will be a great project," said Hutson. "A lot of good people have put in a lot of hard work planning this mural, and, it will be a good addition to the downtown area."

Hutson added that some downtown merchants were hesitant at first because of the location. "When we were first approached, it was with the idea that the mural would appear on the west side of the wall," said Hutson. "Even I objected to that."

Hutson and McGinty say they had strong feelings against the mural on the west side of the wall. A group of merchants has plans for developing trees and gardens on the city side of the wall.