New Bellefonte Mural to Be Dedicated with Block Party Celebration

A new public mural that showcases Bellefonte's role in the history of U.S. air mail will be dedicated on Friday with a block party-style celebration.

The festivities will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Spring Street Municipal Parking Lot as part of Downtown Bellefonte Inc.'s Friday in the 'Fonte monthly summer series. The event will include nearly two dozen vendors and organizations along with live music by Lance Turner Burgess.

DBI worked with community members over the past two years to facilitate the mural project and develop a creative brief. Muralists Key Detail were selected after an open call for artists and application process and installed the mural in May on the back of the building at 123 S. Allegheny St., facing the municipal parking lot.

The design celebrates Bellefonte’s history as a key stop in the early years of U.S. transcontinental air mail, with a pilot standing in front of a plane, a plane in flight and a U.S. Air Mail insignia. The upper right portion of the mural also features a postage stamp depicting the Match Factory, which is now home to the American Philatelic Society.

Bellefonte airfields were a major refueling stop for U.S. Air Mail flights between New York and Chicago, and mail was flown for the first time from Bellefonte on Dec. 18, 1918.

"Bellefonte’s location was considered ideal," according to the Centre County Historical Society. "At 747 feet above sea level, it was drier than other nearby towns such as Lock Haven, which frequently flooded."

Aviation at the time was hazardous, and between 1918 and 1927, 16 pilots who were stationed at or flew through the original Bellefonte air field, located where the high school is today, died in the line of duty, according to CCHS. Bellefonte's geography in the Central Pennsylvania mountains also meant often unpredictable weather and fog.

A new commercial airfield that allowed for more efficient mail delivery opened along Route 64 near Pleasant Gap in 1925

As technology advanced, the Bellefonte air fields were no longer needed for refueling and became an intermediate landing zone for cross-country mail routes.

“Public art is a wonderful mechanism for storytelling and capturing our history,” Alexandra Hall, public art consultant with A H Public Spaces Consulting, said in the news release. “Celebrating a community’s history and heritage can play an important role in continuing traditions and remembering legacies. It is exciting to see a mural project that highlights Bellefonte’s role in U.S. transcontinental mail.”

Funding for the mural project was allocated during the “Wilds Are Working: Remote Lifestyle Experience” initiative in partnership with the PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship. The initiative, funded by an Appalachian Regional Commission grant, provided resources and public improvements to attract a remote workforce.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Also happening on Friday, the Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association is sponsoring live music on South Allegheny Street between High and Bishop streets, with performances by Elijah Snyder, The Stevedores and Ken Baxter.

At dusk, the Summer Movies in the Park series kicks off with a showing of "Frozen" in Talleyrand Park. Attendance is free of charge.

The post New Bellefonte Mural to Be Dedicated with Block Party Celebration appeared first on StateCollege.com .