2021 Bright Walls Live Muralists Arrive, Festival Releases Complete Schedule

(September 10, 2021 1;40 PM) The Bright Walls 2021 Main Mural Artists have arrived in Jackson in preparation for the 2021 Bright Walls Festival.  This year, one main mural is being painted on the side of Jackson Coffee Company, at the corner of Mechanic and Cortland Streets in Downtown Jackson.  This mural and location anchors the site of the 2021 festival.

The Bright Walls 2021 Mural Festival runs September 16-18 with a variety of displays, events, concerts and other activities for the whole family.

The main mural artists, “Greetings Tour” arrived in Jackson Thursday evening.  Greetings Tour is billed as the Original Postcard Mural Tour, painting retro-style tourist postcard art in cities all over the United States.  Using the classic large letter postcard style, they work with communities to create colorful murals featuring local landmarks, history, and culture. 

Greetings Tour is the team of muralist Victor Ving and photographer Lisa Beggs.  They have been traveling out of their RV since leaving New York City in 2015.  They lived full-time on the road for 5 years and are now based out of Southern California while still touring part-time.  The artists have completed over 52 murals in about half of the states with a mission to paint in all 50 states across America.

Greetings Tour began painting today with the goal of completing the mural on Saturday, September 17 during the festival.

Due to travel restrictions as a result of the pandemic, Bright Walls was unable to bring artists from around the world to this year’s festival.  Instead, the Bright Walls team decided to choose a United States-based artist to create one iconic work of art as the centerpiece of this year’s festival.

While international artists are not in person this year, Bright Walls has brought the works of artists from around the globe, providing “Bright Box” installations on and around Michigan Avenue in Downtown Jackson.  These utility and electrical boxes have been covered in automotive-grade vinyl wraps, utilizing the artwork of eight talented artists.

Again this year, Bright Walls is featuring a Community Tile Mural which will be on display in the True Community Credit Union Amphitheatre in Horace Blackman Park. The team combined 2020 and 2021 tiles to make an over 1,100 piece creation. After this year’s festival, the mural will continue to be displayed in this gallery through October and then will be moved to its permanent location at Nixon Park. 

Today, the Festival released final details of this year’s three-day event:

Thursday, September 16

• Bright Paws Parade and Pageant – 6:30 PM
  • Bring your four-legged friends to the 2018 Bright Walls Mural Site. We will meet by the LOVE Mural on the back of 201 N. Jackson Street. From there we will parade through the murals and Downtown Jackson to our 2021 Bright Walls Festival Site where our Pup Pageant will take place!
  • Every dog who comes to the parade gets a FREE Bright Walls Bandana
  • To date, 30 dogs are registered for the pageant and we know there will be even more in the parade! What a sight downtown will be with all those pooches!
• Bright Walls Walking Tour – 7:30 PM
  • This free walking tour will start at 7:30 PM at the Bright Walls Headquarters Tent on Cortland Street.
  • Guides will facilitate a walking tour through our 40+ murals and installations to date!

Friday, September 17

• Bright Walls Scavenger Hunt – All Day
  • Back by popular demand, the Bright Walls Scavenger Hunt will kick-off with clues being posted to our Facebook Page that will guide participants to various challenges throughout Jackson.
• Rock the Block – 5:00 PM – 11:00 PM
  • DJ Mike Holiday, local band – The Orbiters, and top 40 cover band – FiftyAmpFuse will take to the stage with live music!
    • 6:30-7:30: The Orbiters
    • 7:30-8:00: DJ Mike Holiday
    • 8:00-11:00: FiftyAmpFuse

Saturday, September 18

• Bright Walls Scavenger Hunt – All Day
• Downtown ShowDown – 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM
  • This day is all about highlighting local talent! Ten Jackson artists will take to the street and work to complete a mural the size of a parking spot. The crowd will then be able to vote for their favorite. 
  • Later in the evening, the stage will be filled with musical and magical performances. Daniel Martin will join us from 6:00 PM – 6:30 PM and 8:00 PM-8:30 PM for magic shows you won’t want to miss!

A popular signature of the festival, colorful and unique merchandise, will again be available during the event.  Unique and “one time run” merchandise has been created this year.   From t-shirts, sweatshirts, and bandannas, there is definitely something for everyone to proudly wear! And, as always, all proceeds from merchandise sales go right back into the festival. You will find a few photos below.

A map that includes all of the murals through the years and the new Bright Box installations is posted at www.BrightWallsJackson.com/map.  Maps will also be available at the festival.

Follow Bright Walls on social media here:

• • Like https://www.facebook.com/brightwallsjackson 
  • Follow https://www.instagram.com/bright_walls/