By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Florence City Council recently heard about an enormous, dramatic mural to be created on the side of Stringtown Restaurant.
“We have contracted with Christian Dallas, a famous muralist in our area, to do a 100-foot mural on the side of Stringtown Bar and Grill,” said Joshua Hunt, the city’s director of business and community development. “This is to pay homage to the history of Main Street.”
He showed a rendering of the actual mural, saying this project has been in the planning for about a year.
“This is the third or fourth rendering,” Hunt said. “There is a lot in this mural.The stagecoach represents that the city of Florence was a stop on the stagecoach route from Covington to Lexington. There is what looks like a white cat in the window that will be a skunk, because Florence was known as ‘polecat,’ which is a skunk, at some point in their search for identity. The cardinal is the state bird, and it is on there. The man standing there is probably one of Florence’s best known residents, John Uri Lloyd, a pharmacist, and there are mushrooms and plants around. The lines are to represent direction and flow, generalized movement.”
Councilmember Pat Wingo reiterated Hunt’s statement that this mural has been in the works for awhile, and said the owner of Stringtown, Rick Potter, has been looking forward to getting the project started.
“There used to be a fire escape on that side of the building, and he took that down in preparation of this mural,” she said. “Some of the paint is peeling but we didn’t want him to do anything so we could prepare the side of the building for this mural.”
“He has been great to work with,” hunt said. “He redid the soffits and the gutters because we didn’t want water to ruin the paint.”
Hunt explained that they were waiting to sign an official lease with the restaurant to agree to keep the mural in good shape even if Potter would sell the building at some point.
“If you have ever watched Christian Dallas work, it is a very interesting process,” Hunt said. “It is all scaled, computerized, projected and mapped out. It is similar to a paint by numbers. Everything is in 12-inch-by-12-inch squares, and it is worked on, one by one, and eventually it is all colored in. I think it is very colorful, and very neat.”
Christian Dallas is a contemporary muralist and painter who works in Cincinnati and its environs. He went to Northern Kentucky University and received a Bachelors of Fine Art, but he was intrigued by murals, and he began experimenting with the larger format of mural painting. Working his way through methods of observing the unique scale of each of the walls he encounters, and taking in the surroundings, Christian has definitely found his niche, and he is so good at what he does and is constantly in demand.
Examples of his work can be found all over the tri-state area, in Cincinnati, as far up as Hamilton and Mason, and as far south as Hebron. One is at CVG, one is at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, one in Newport, and he is just getting started. Dallas also does regular paintings, and has showings. For more information, or to see some of his works, visit www.ChristianDallas.com
“The thought was we can have every business around, but if we don’t have things that celebrate our art, and our history and our culture we’ve missed the mark as a community,” said Mayor Julie Aubuchon. “So I think this is just one piece of a larger puzzle bringing more public art to our community and more celebration of our history and knowing where we came from.”
Hunt said this is just the beginning, that there is another mural planned for Main Street, although there are no renderings as of yet.
This project is expected to cost approximately $50,000, and the money is in the budget. Work will begin soon, depending on the weather. Hunt expects that it will be completed before July 1, 2026.
Council members were very pleased with the new project that will highlight the city’s history.
“I am pleased to see that this is going to be happening here soon,” said Councilmember Pat Wingo.