Located at the corner of Canty and Watts streets in downtown Pascagoula, a mural created and completed by Mary Bet Evans showcases some iconic Pascagoula images from various parts of the city.
The mural came out of the Main Street Pascagoula Design Committee, according to Main Street Director Rebecca Davis, and the goal was to create more public art for Pascagoula residents and visitors to enjoy. Davis said Evans is a talented artist and had worked on many murals in the past, so she was a logical choice for this new mural. Her work has previously been exhibited in places such as the Depot Art Gallery.
A draft design was presented to the committee, and with a few minor changes, the design was approved and work began. It took several months to complete and was installed in October 2018.
According to Richard Lucas, who is on the Main Street Pascagoula board, the board had some specific elements that they wanted to be in the mural, and working together, they were able to get everything in there they wanted. These elements include Scranton’s, Edd’s Drive-In, the beach, Ingalls Shipbuilding, War Memorial Stadium, Bozo’s, and many more iconic Pascagoula scenes.
The goal was to show a “panorama of life in Pascagoula in the downtown area” and “not only the geography and topography but also the historic buildings and the places people know and think about when they think about Pascagoula,” Lucas said.
Lucas added that, like in many downtowns around the country, people are starting to come back downtown and this mural gives them something fun and historical to look at.
“We felt like this mural would certainly serve in that capacity of showing Pascagoula and just a sampling of its wonderful points and places that people could go by and look at while they’re downtown,” Lucas said.
This downtown mural joins a number of other murals around town. A mural that was originally up and had to be taken down due to a storm is now up at the library, according to Lucas. There’s also one at the post office showing the Singing River legend and another mural inside the court house. There’s also a modern one set up across from Scranton’s on the back of the city municipal building.
“Maybe we’re a bit of a mural town,” Lucas said.
Davis stressed that the mural would not have been possible without some local partnerships, including Pascagoula Pride, Lowe’s, the City of Pascagoula and, of course, Main Street.
