To the editor,
I read with interest the May 12 article about the Board of Selectmen’s vote on the community mural project. I understand the concerns about cost — $4,000 is not nothing in a town where the paving budget is always tight. But I would ask the board and the Gazette’s readers to consider what $4,000 buys.
It buys a wall. A good wall, I hope — Iris Beaumont is a talented artist, and her renderings of the Willow River at Thorne’s Bend and the ice harvest on Homan’s Pond are the kind of thing that makes a person stop and look. But beyond the wall, it buys a signal. It says Willow Creek believes it has something worth celebrating, and that is a message worth sending to the people who drive through town on Route 11 and to the young people who wonder whether there is a future for them here.
Arthur Pendelton voted against it. He is entitled to his view, and he has never been shy about protecting the town’s wallet. But I would point out that the mural is funded from the recreation fund, not the general fund. That money exists for exactly this purpose — to make Willow Creek a place people want to live, not just a place they happen to be from.
I hope the board revisits this at the next meeting. And if the vote goes the other way, I will be happy to hold a paintbrush.
Sincerely,
Mr. David Michaud 22 School Street Willow Creek