Colorful murals have been a part of the scenery in Lincoln City for years, helping to give artists a space for creation and boosting the city’s beauty.
Explore Lincoln City will unveil a new, playful mural titled, “The Magic Festival,” with a ribbon cutting at McKay’s Market at 12 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6.
The Lincoln City mural, a collaboration with Travel Oregon that marks the 10th such installation in the Oregon Mural Trail, features a still image from the whimsical “Oregon, Only Slightly Exaggerated” campaign created by award-winning creative agency Wieden + Kennedy in 2021.
The mural also will now become part of the Lincoln City Art Trail. The mural site is a half mile from the Lincoln City Kite Festival grounds at D River State Recreation Site, where the kite festivals take place twice a year, in summer and fall.
The ribbon-cutting will kick off Lincoln City’s Fall Kite Festival, which is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 7-8.
Painted by Oregon artists Jeremy Nichols and Blaine Fontana, the kite festival mural adorns the wall of McKay’s Market adjacent to Lincoln City City Hall, facing Highway 101 at 801 SW Highway 101 in Lincoln City.
The artists have worked on other murals in the Oregon Mural Trail; Fontana worked on the mural in The Dalles, and Nichols painted the mural for both Yachats and Pendleton.
“We’re thrilled to bring a piece of Oregon’s imaginative tourism campaign, ‘Oregon, Only Slightly Exaggerated,’ to Lincoln City,” Explore Lincoln City Director Kim Cooper Findling said. “Created in partnership with Travel Oregon, the mural celebrates our popular Kite Festivals while also establishing Lincoln City as the 10th destination on the statewide Oregon Mural Trail. Public art is a priority for us, and we’re honored for the opportunity to showcase our region through this enchanting medium to both visitors and local residents.”
The mural is based on a still from the animated “Oregon, Still Only Slightly Exaggerated” video campaign, which departed from the typical scenic imagery commonly used in tourism marketing.
Instead, Wieden + Kennedy utilized delightful, technicolor animation to evoke what photography sometimes cannot — the magical feeling of being in Oregon. The 90-second animated video employs a range of animation and illustration styles and features an original score from Emmy-winning composer Jim Dooley, performed by the Oregon Symphony.
The Sept. 6 ribbon-cutting ceremony will feature professional kite flyers demonstrating their skills, and attendance by Travel Oregon staff, elected officials and other dignitaries.
A free shuttle service for those who want to attend the ribbon-cutting
Lincoln City sports several other murals, including a large wave on a house garage door, a student mural on a large shipping container at Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital, and a large octopus on the side of a building across from the D River Wayside on Highway 101.
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