Former Bowness Gas Plus gets a mural to cover up 'eyesore' lot

A new mural is set to cover up one of the uglier spots in Bowness, about eight years after it was discovered that thousands of litres of fuel had leaked into the ground at the old Gas Plus station.

Describing the location as "just sort of a gravel pit," local business advocates wanted to see visual improvements to the corner at BownessRoad and 63rd Street N.W.

"This corner has been a bit of a canker sore in the middle of our mainstreet Bowness area business district," saidJacquiEsler,executive director of theMainstreet Bowness Business Improvement Area.

The BIA approached Bowness High School, and more than 100 art students collaboratively created a black-and-white mural to stretch around two sides of the empty lot.

Over the course of the past seven months, studentsin Alison Martin's art classcreated individual segments of the mural tobe combined into the larger whole.

"I kept thinking that construction was happening but nothing was ever built, it kind of was a dull section of the community," said Grade 12 student Courtney Friesen.

Courtney created a segment of the mural she described an "abstract piece" with the word Bowness hidden within.

"I fell in love with [the mural project] right off the bat," she said. "It feels like I'm connected to the community."

Kirin Dhillon, also in Grade 12, painted a hand as part of the mural.

"You think of Bowness and I think it's very easy to see the community....I think that's why I wanted to choose a hand. The idea of helping hands is important," said Kirin.

Volunteers from Habitat for Humanity and Simon House Recovery Centre donated their time to help install theboards that make up the mural with materialsdonated by Windsor Plywood.

"It's been an eyesore for at least two years they've had the fence up, so coming together as a community to do something like this is absolutely fantastic," said Bill Mclaren, a Bowness resident and site supervisor withHabitat for Humanity.

He was helping lacquer the mural after its installationon Friday.

The BIA's intent is to use the location for community events. It'shopedthe mural can remain up for at least a couple of years, while the land is still being remediated from the gasoline leak.

"We're going tohave picnic tables and ... our street festivals and that kind of thing," said Esler.

The mural will be officially unveiled with a launch party onMonday morning.

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