News that an iconic downtown mural was painted over Thursday afternoon in the Mural Capital of the Cariboo Chilcotin is garnering a wave of disappointment.
All that remains now of a 17-year-old mural depicting the Farwell Canyon and other local Cariboo scenes on the Third Avenue side of the Kondolas Furniture and Appliance building on Oliver Street in Williams Lake is a wall of white paint.
Art walk coordinator, Willie Dye who in 2014 pitched for Williams Lake as the Mural Capital of the Cariboo Chilcotin called it a shame.
“It didn’t need a whole lot of work to get it cleaned up and we put in print, we put in video that it’s part of the Mural Capital of the Cariboo-Chilcotin and something is wrong here.”
Dye says the mural although now gone was captured in a video which showcased all of the murals within the downtown core a couple of years ago. “So we do have that,” he says.
The City of Williams Lake called the loss of the mural extremely disappointing and said in a statement that after learning that the owner of the building was intending to paint over the mural in order to upgrade the building’s appearance, Council and staff both reached out to building owner Paul Kondola repeatedly over the past few months, in an effort to persuade him to reconsider. The City also advised Mr. Kondola that funding was available to restore the mural at no cost to him.
“It is extremely disheartening to hear of the lack of respect for Williams Lake’s first mural,” said Mayor Walt Cobb. “We have worked hard to establish Williams Lake as the Mural Capital of the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast, and this iconic part of our downtown core is now lost.”
MYCARIBOONOW reached out to Kondolas Thursday afternoon and asked to speak to the manager but was told over the phone that they were unavailable and that it’s “none of your business” when we inquired about the mural.
Local Artist Dwayne Davis who painted the mural in 2000 was unavailable for comment.