An artist’s vision and inspiration from North Carolina turned into a massive community effort that leaders hope will entice people to visit Van Buren.
Leah Cook, a community artist living in Grand Isle, wanted to delve into mural painting. Van Buren Town Manager Luke Dyer was looking for a mural artist. Together, they spearheaded a new 20-panel project to highlight the town’s best features.
Just a few years ago, Van Buren was in the midst of a two-decade decline. Its 1950s boom era had dwindled, along with the population and regional economy, led in part by the 1994 closure of nearby Loring Air Force Base. But a renaissance sparked in 2022, shortly after Dyer came to town. Now, a new mural marks how a determined Maine community can turn sweat into a reboot.
“We are now seeing that work translate into real economic activity. New small businesses have opened in health and wellness, food, retail and vintage collectibles, bringing people downtown and giving them new reasons to visit Van Buren,” Dyer said. “From a management perspective, the most encouraging change is that we are building momentum.”
Each successful project and new business added brings more investment and builds confidence in the town, he said.
Town leaders started looking at successful communities around the country to see what had worked for them, Dyer said. They knew a town in decline couldn’t rebuild quickly, so they planned for slow, sustainable growth.
Within the past four years, Van Buren has netted arts grants, rejoined the state’s Main Street program, signed on with the Maine Department of Transportation’s Village Partnership Initiative for downtown improvement and started a community garden. It’s joined forces with Philadelphia’s Drexel University on an art installation and a business incubator.
It’s seen businesses grow, such as the Northern Maine Kolache Co., which recently expanded and added a drive-thru, and new ventures open, including a taco eatery and charcuterie board crafter.
Cook thought a mural would give residents something to mark how far the town has come, and give visitors a reason to explore. The resulting collage of 20 panels depicts town landmarks, installed on the wall of a building owned by Robert Pelletier and Leland Bonenfant.
“The whole project fits into the larger story of Van Buren’s revitalization, celebrating the positive things that are right here and right now in the community,” Cook said. “There’s a lot of momentum going on internally in Van Buren from folks dedicated and determined to change things for the better. Hopefully this wall-sized display of cheerful art highlighting 20 great features of the town can be a part of that.”
The panels look like giant postage stamps, an idea inspired both by a similar mural in North Carolina and by midcoast Maine artist Peter Walls, who has used shaped panels in his work, Cook said.
She created the first set of 11 panels along with the Van Buren Revitalization Association, Dyer and Maine Creates, a pilot program of the Maine Arts Commission that supports art in rural and underserved communities. The Town Council approved funding to create those 11 pieces, and a grant allowed Cook to expand the project to include nine more panels.
Her goal was to create them in simple designs and colors that were easy to see from a distance. The subjects are on single fields of color with “no painterly brushstrokes,” she said.
Cook and Dyer chose the first 11 locations featured on the panels, but she opened it up to the community for the second set. More than 93 people responded, she said.
More than 330 residents voted to choose the final nine designs. Then work began. The town held community paint days when anyone could help Cook paint. More than 30 from ages 2 to 87 participated, including four generations of the LaJoie family, whose farm is featured on one of the panels.
Nearly 14 community organizations and businesses supported the team through various phases of the project, Cook said.
The town celebrated the unveiling of the completed exterior wall last weekend. Panels include St. Bruno/St. Remi Church, town trails, the library, the sledding hill, the town bandstand, the Acadian Village, historic Gayety Theater and the bridge to Canada.
People have been “positive and excited” about the finished project in person and on social media, Cook said. People have said it’s impressive, colorful and amazing, and many people living away want to see it in person.
Studies have shown public art carries an economic boost, with people spending 1.5 times more in areas near an art walk or trail.
“As soon as you get people out of cars and on foot, there’s a positive benefit to businesses in that area,” Cook said.
But just as important as the art is the message of positivity in a town rebuilding its own story, she added.
Dyer agrees the mural is more than a new art piece.
“We want the mural to do more than beautify a wall. We want it to send a message that Van Buren is proud of who we are, where we come from and where we are going,” he said. “Sometimes revitalization starts with something as simple as giving people a reason to stop instead of driving through.”