By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
An official unveiling was held on Saturday, Oct. 15 for a colorful mural recently painted inside the Mesquite Welcome Center building. The mural was painted by artist Judy Grillo with help from many visitors to the center.
The mural, which is located next to the interior door to the Virgin River Coalition office, depicts a large Honey Mesquite tree which is native to the local environment.
Grillo lives in Santa Rosa, California. But she is well known in her previous hometown of Phoenix, Oregon for painting beautiful large-scale murals.
Grillo’s sister, Debbie Stephenson and her husband Roy live in Mesquite and are active in various community service organizations and projects. One of those is volunteering at the Mesquite Welcome Center.
It was Roy’s idea to have a mural painted on the large blank wall inside the center. And he knew just the person to do it. He proposed the idea to Nick Montoya, Director of Mesquite Department of Athletics and Leisure Services, who got fully behind the idea.
“They asked me to paint a Mesquite tree,” Grillo said. “I took a look at a photo of a Mesquite and thought, ‘What a weird looking tree!’ It is certainly not the standard tree.”
It took Grillo about seven days to paint the mural. This was done in two trips to Mesquite from California.
But in accordance with her custom, Grillo didn’t do all the painting by herself. Rather she recruited help from a number of unsuspecting people who happened to stop by the center while she was working.
“I drew it and prepared everything,” Grillo said in an interview last week. “But there were about 17 people who dropped by the Welcome Center to get maps and other information, and they all took some time with a brush to help paint the mural.”
Whoever dropped by while Grillo was at work were conscripted into putting their own touch to the work adding a leaf here and a stem there.
“Everytime someone would come in the door, I would just smile a little bit,” Grillo said. “Before it was done, I would catch them. They would always end up helping before they left. It is way more fun that way.”
In addition, the Virgin Valley High School Wood Shop students also got into the act. With the help of Wood Shop teacher Jon Felix, they created a beautiful plaque that has been posted alongside the mural.
The plaque is made out of a cross section of the stump of a large Honey Mesquite tree. It has been polished with a clear lacquer finish and it bears several lines of text giving background information about this local plant.
It reads: The Honey Mesquite Tree, prosopis glandulosa, is native to Mesquite, Nevada. The local natives and pioneers ground its bean pods to make high protein flour. They called it manna…”
A group of local officials and area residents gathered for the unveiling of the mural and the plaque on Saturday, Oct. 15.
“This will be a really nice addition to this Visitors Center,” said Mesquite Mayor Al Litman at the unveiling. “We thank Ms. Grillo for her work.”
Litman commented that the city had lobbied the Nevada Department of Transportation office a couple of years ago to be able to take over management of the Welcome Center which had been closed for several years prior due to lack of funding. The request was granted and the city has kept it open ever since, he said.
“A lot of people don’t even know that it is here and open,” Litman said. “But we are able to keep it open because of the efforts of community volunteers.”
Montoya, who manages the day to day operations of the Welcome Center, expressed gratitude to several people who had supported the creation of this mural and the Welcome Center as well. These included Mayor Litman; Councilmembers Sandra Ramaker and Wes Boger; the Friends of Gold Butte; the Virgin River Coalition and the VVHS Wood Shop program along with its teacher, Jon Felix.
The Mesquite Welcome Center houses the offices of the Virgin River Coalition and the Friends of Gold Butte. It is located at 460 N. Sandhill Blvd and is open Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 am to 2 pm.
The city is looking for additional volunteers to help expand the center’s hours of operation. Those interested in volunteering can call the Department of Athletics and Leisure Services at 702-346-8732
