By Geoff Smith

Art Alley latest initiative to draw people downtown

Jun 21, 2016 | 5:00 PM

A blank wall in downtown North Battleford is undergoing a transformation.

Local artist Jodi Miller spent Tuesday, June 21 working on her portion of Art Alley, a mural project taking shape on the south wall of Moon’s Kitchen restaurant on 100th St.

“I chose poppies because I think generally everyone has a relationship to veterans and what poppies represent, and as a whole, flowers,” Miller said, adding, “So that was my start to it.”

Miller is one of four artists from the community chosen to each paint a portion of the wall, which faces a vacant lot between the restaurant and the Beaver Hotel. Lisa Kissick, executive director of Downtown North Battleford, wouldn’t reveal the remainder of the design.

“We’re not going to reveal what the final product is going to be; we’re going to let everybody watch it take shape,” Kissick said. She was pleased that they were able to use local talent who responded to a call for artists issued in February.

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Kissick hoped it would lead to a larger role for the site, and deter negative activity in the area.

“We’re going to be doing a couple of other things surrounding that property to improve that space altogether,” she said.

“So I think that by the end of the summer we’re going to have a real beautiful space that potentially could be another event space,” Kissick added.

The Art Alley project was cited by Kissick in her report to the North Battleford Business Improvement District’s annual general meeting June 16. Another focus is new business attraction. While 2015 saw the loss of The Bargain Shop to a fire, several new businesses were identified as having set up shop downtown in the past year, including two chiropractic clinics, a dentist’s office, a boutique, two hair salons, a restaurant, and a hearing centre.

“We’re constantly working with business owners, helping them improve the look of their buildings,” she said. “We have our clean team working every year. They picked up over 10,000 pounds of garbage in 2015. So those are things you can’t get anywhere else in the city.”

Downtown North Battleford also continues to host events. Tuesday alone there were two separate National Aboriginal Day events drawing hundreds of people to the neighbourhood.

Kissick’s report also mentioned the winter festival and Christmas parade, Turkey Day 5k and Food Drive, Fall Festival and car show, International Street Performer’s Festival, among others.

Kissick said central park is becoming an increasingly popular location for events.

gsmith@jpbg.ca
Twitter: @smithco