Toronto street artist Magic “ Finnga ” Wong is coming to North Bay to help create a giant mural on the side of a local convenience store.
It's part of an initiative called "Mac’s StreetART Mural" and it being done at the Mac’s Convenience Store at the corner of Cassells and O’Brien Street, much to the surprise of the store manager.
Participants will help prepare the base of a mural that will be painted on the outside wall of the store Monday. Teens and young adults will also be invited to add their “tags” to the wall with the provided spray paint.
Afterwards, and for the next two days, Wong will work his magic to beautify the tagged wall by creating an artistic mural.
On Wednesday, August 24th at noon, participants will be invited back to Mac’s to see the final results.
It's a joint effort by the North Bay Police Service, Mac’s Convenience Stores and Near North Crime Stoppers.
Creative teenagers and young adults are invited to join in Monday morning at 10 as the project gets underway.
All materials will be provided.
"The goals of the Mac’s StreetART Mural initiative are to create strategic partnerships, to help prevent crime and strengthen community relationships, and to convey the message that community safety is a shared responsibility. By engaging youth in the process, they become empowered to make wise decisions and make a positive contribution to the communities where they live," says a news release.
"This forward-thinking concept has seen positive results in other jurisdictions, not only in the reduction of crime at the locations where the murals have been painted, but also through community beautification."
But when visited by BayToday this morning, the store manager appeared shocked and completely unaware of the project involving his store until shown the news release.
Sean Sportun, Manager, Security & Loss Prevention for Mac's, in an email to BayToday stated "The information most likely has not filtered down to the Store Manager."
Successful murals have been completed in partnership with the Toronto Police Service, York Regional Police, Peel Regional Police, Thunder Bay Police Service, Barrie Police Service, and Ottawa Police Service.
