Friday, April 15, 2005

Walls alive!
Artists depict DeLand history through murals

By MORRIS SULLIVAN | News-Journal Correspondent

DELAND — In square inches, the new mural on East Indiana Avenue is the smallest mural in downtown DeLand. But what it lacks in scale it more than makes up for in importance.

The mural is 10th in a series of a MainStreet DeLand program that began in 1996 and soon will include a dozen murals and a 32-page book, “Strolling Through Time with Bill.” The book details the goal of the mural program which is to lead visitors on a walking tour through downtown DeLand and local history.

At the same time, the program honors Bill Dreggors, the executive director of the West Volusia Historical Society -- the person most often credited with preserving and communicating the rich local history. The mural is a life-sized portrait of its namesake, who didn´t learn about the mural until its unveiling March 31. The surprise moved him almost to tears.

Born and raised in DeLand, Dreggors developed an interest in local history as a child, then started collecting early postcards and photographs. During the 1980s, he helped spearhead restoration of the Henry DeLand House and served as curator for the museum while making appearances at schools and functions dressed as Henry DeLand.

The new mural was financed by the DeLand Breakfast Rotary and designed and painted by Courtney Canova, who has painted more than half the MainStreet DeLand murals. Canova is also currently working with a committee on a Bonita Springs mural project.

“He´s our resident muralist,” said Pat Rancati, who chairs the mural committee of the MainStreet DeLand Association. “Why look around when you´ve got someone so good right here?”

Work will soon begin on two more murals. The first will face Church Street from the south wall of the Morgan Stanley building, and will depict the sugar mill at DeLeon Springs.

The 12th mural, “Music, Music, Music,” will depict the bandshell that once stood on West Indiana Avenue where the county administration building now stands. The location of that mural has not yet been decided.

By the time the paint dries on those murals, a printed guide funded in part by a project grant from the Florida Humanities Council will be complete. The booklet will contain a brief history to accompany each mural on the historic walk.

“We´ve had lots of people asking for tours and more information,” Rancati said.

MainStreet´s mural program won´t stop at a dozen murals, she said. The committee expects to continue presenting DeLand´s history with depictions into at least the middle of the 20th century. There are plans for, among other things, a two-story portrait of Noble “Thin Man” Watts and a mural depicting the DeLand Naval Air Station during World War II.

Murals seem to be among the attributes that attract visitors to downtown DeLand, said MainStreet director Taver Cornett, who acknowledges he wasn´t always a believer in mural projects. “My attitude changed 180 degrees watching people come here seeing how they´re drawn to the murals,” he said. “I´ve been converted.

“The (mural program´s) success is evidenced by the fact we have Scout troops come and look at the murals and individuals wanting self-guided mural tours,” he said. “They are a great magnet for our downtown. And we now have people in the community painting murals on their own.”

Renee Tallevast, director of the West Volusia Tourism Authority, agreed. “I think the murals serve in combination with the other things DeLand offers,” she said. “It´s sort of like putting decorations on the icing.”

The authority lists the mural program on its Web site and in promotional brochures alongside the “award-winning MainStreet, boutiques, cafes, and museums,” she said.

Tallevast hopes to see a mural program develop outside DeLand. “I´d like to see murals extend all along the Heritage Corridor,” which extends along the entire west side of the county, she said.

“We´re up to eyeballs in other projects right now, but our partnership committee is talking about it,” she said. “We´ve even talked to (Florida Department of Transportation) about doing murals on overpasses where Interstate 4 goes through West Volusia. That would be the coolest thing!”

All in the details

An informal tour of the completed murals begins at the wall in Painters Pond Park on East Wisconsin Avenue. The mural, “Turn of the Century,” was completed in the early spring of 2004 and simulates a train ride through DeLand during the early 1900s.

“Henry´s Vision,” on the south wall of a building at the northwest corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Woodland Boulevard, depicts the settling of the area at the time of Henry DeLand´s arrival in 1876. That mural faces “Riverboat Landing” on the north wall of a building across Wisconsin. The mural depicts people arriving by steamboat during the 1880s. It was dedicated on July 15, 1999.

A small building just south of Wisconsin bears a mural showing “Citrus Wizard” Lue Gim Gong with his rooster, March. It was dedicated in November 2003.

A wildlife scene, “The Black Bear Family,” faces a parking lot on the north side of East Rich Avenue across from Pioneer Park. The mural was dedicated in June 2004.

“Pioneers at the Parceland” overlooks Pioneer Park at the corner of Woodland Boulevard and Rich Avenue. The first completed mural, it was dedicated in December 1996, and depicts the Parceland Hotel during the 1880s.

The “Bill Dreggors” mini-mural faces East Indiana Avenue from the south side of the street about one block from Woodland Boulevard.

“Strolling Main Street” is inside the Fish building at the corner of Woodland Boulevard and New York. Completed in November 2,000, the mural depicts downtown DeLand after the turn of the century until the 1920s.

A tile mural, “River Life,” is below ground level at the north entrance to the SouthTrust Bank building basement. The mural was completed in April 1998 and shows the wildlife in and around the St. Johns River.

“Living at the Landmark” depicts residents looking out the windows of the Landmark Hotel (now the Artisan) around the 1920s and 1930s. It was dedicated in July 2001.

Special Project: THE FLORIDA QUEST Laptop Lauren and the Trackers are the main characters in the Florida Quest, a 4-week, multi-media project involving thousands of students in Volusia and Flagler counties. In this quest they discover Homefront and Heritage!