Activate Selma group receives $3,000 for mural project

Submitted by Activate Selma

SELMA — Activate Selma, a grassroots group of business owners and citizens, recently received a check for $3,000 for their mural project in the downtown Selma district.

The funds were awarded from the Triangle East Economic Development Foundation.

“These funds will help drive a positive movement in Selma,” said founding member, Cindy Brookshire. “We want to see Selma grow and prosper and this is just one step we are taking to make that happen.”

Ron Hester of Hester Properties is the third building owner to donate a blank canvas to this project. The train mural on his building on East Railroad Street was completed in September and discussions of where to put another mural are on the top of the list for the Activate Selma group.

“In giving this building as a canvas, we are continuing to move Selma forward in a positive, energetic way and I love being a part of this movement and seeing what will happen in the next few months with other buildings and murals,” said Hester.

This is the third in a series of highly visible murals or tourism banners that have been installed in the Town of Selma’s Central Business District. Murals create a tangible sense of place and destination, resulting in increased foot traffic while adding color, vibrancy and character to a walkable town.

Public art is an outward and visible sign of Selma’s uptown revitalization and falls under the umbrella of economic development, one of the four main areas that Selma Town Council and Town Management are focusing on in fiscal year 2020-21 — the other three are infrastructure, code enforcement and appearance.

The first was a 2019 mural featuring historic landmarks around Selma that was painted in Vick Park by Fayetteville artist and former Selma art teacher Dorothy Finiello. The mural was part of the East Anderson Street Redevelopment Plan executed by members of the Town of Selma Appearance Commission. That plan had the park resurfaced, added wall improvements, fencing, lighting, benches, tables, landscaping and the mural. Vick Park is used for picnics, community meetings, the Selma Saturdays Arts and Crafts Market, and well as other public and private gatherings.

The second is a tourism banner mounted on the side of Reid’s Print Services’ building at the busy intersection of U.S. 301 and Anderson Street in September 2020. The cost of the banner and installation was paid for by the 2 percent hotel and restaurant tax collected by the Johnston County Visitors Bureau.

The Selma Tourism Committee is executing a campaign of gateway, wayfinding and banner signs and this is the first of that series. Charles and Donna Reid donated the use of their building for this banner.

The third, for which Activate Selma received funding, is a building-sized mural of a steam engine locomotive, painted by Raeford artist, Lacey Crime.

The building is a warehouse on East Railroad Street owned by Hester. He donated the use of his building and secured the artist, who finished the mural at the end of September – just in time for the Oct. 2-3 annual Railroad Days Festival.

A few members of the Activate Selma group pose in front of Ron Hester’s new mural. They are, from left: Front row, left to right, Warren Stancil, Todd Daniels, Jeffery Hamilton and Jud Patterson. Back row,George Boyd, Cindy Brookshire, Donna Reid, Ron Hester, Darryl Washington, Michael Sneed and Byron McAllister.

The mural faces the North Carolina coastal line that is used by CSX and Amtrak. Passengers from up and down the east coast arriving and departing from

Selma Union Depot will be able to see the mural, as well as customers of Trackside Antiques, A Matter of Record, Heidi Moore CPA and People’s Barber Shop. Many people have already been spotted taking selfies in front of this mural.

Activate Selma is a grassroots group of business owners, entrepreneurs, volunteers, residents and friends who have a heart for Selma. Patterned after 1MillionCups.com, they meet every Wednesday at 9 am at various locations around uptown Selma to spark creative problem-solving and push through broken record stories of the town’s past.