We’ve got something special to celebrate Cinco de Mayo this year—a mural. The next installment in our Urban Canvases on The Ave Mural Project will be dedicated with a ceremony at 12 p.m. on Thursday, May 5—Cinco de Mayo. It’ll be on the side of the building at 520 E. Landis Avenue and, in keeping with the abundance of Mexican restaurants on The Ave—especially on that block—and other Mexican businesses, it has a Mexican theme.
The artist is Alfonso Jimenez and he used spray paint for the mural, adding to the variety of ways that our downtown murals have been created.
Vineland is proud of its heritage and mix of multicultural backgrounds. We think that it is only fitting and proper that we celebrate this latest mural on Cinco de Mayo. It’s another opportunity to further enhance the beauty of the downtown and we’ll be announcing plans at the dedication for more murals. We have sites in mind and want to turn what are now blank walls into beautiful expressions of art and of Vineland’s history and culture.
For our Main Street Vineland’s Urban Canvases on The Ave mural project, sides of selected buildings are used as “canvases” to help beautify and add creative spirit to The Ave. This is also a Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP) initiative to put public art in our downtown and neighboring areas.
The project has been helped by the generosity of grantors, who have contributed funds or services. The Cumberland County Cultural & Heritage Commission/Department of State has been a generous grantor of the present mural.
So, come out to the dedication and help celebrate. The muralist will be present, as well as representatives from the state, county, city, and Main Street Vineland. While you’re at it, patronize one of the several Mexican restaurants on The Ave. You’ll be glad you did.
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Don’t forget our Arbor Day commemoration this Friday, April 29. We’ll be planting a tree in the southeast mini-park, at Landis Avenue and the Boulevard at 1 p.m. We’ll have some special guests to help out—John Pedersen, a former chair of the Design Team and a member of the Vineland Environmental Commission, and the fourth grade class from the Gloria M. Sabater Elementary School. We’ll also be planting flowers on the 600 block of Landis Avenue, following the commemoration, so feel free to come out and help.
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The next of our quarterly team meetings will be that of our Economic Vitality Team this Thursday, April 28. This team helps our general business climate downtown—working with our businesses through training, ribbon-cuttings, seminars, promoting the businesses and much more. You can join us in person or virtually; if the latter, let us know in advance so we can send you the Zoom link.
All our teams meet on successive Thursdays each month, at 12 p.m., at the Main Street Vineland office, 603 E. Landis Avenue.
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Main Street Vineland is here to help. We pass important business information along to our businesses every Wednesday, in the 9 a.m. hour, and on SNJ Today POP FM 99.9, and Comcast Channel 22.
