A new mural will soon be installed in downtown Chatham highlighting the area's vast history.
Members of the Historic Downtown Chatham Business Improvement Area (BIA) have chosen a design by local artist Ruth Ann Pearce. She was one of several artists who submitted potential designs to replace the current mural on the Garden Event Centre.
Pearce told CK News Today she hopes people will not only like her design, but potentially learn from it.
"I tried to hit all of the different things going on. The past, present, and future for Chatham," she said.
Pearce spent several months researching the history of the area. She joked that at times it felt like the mural consumed most of her life.
"I worked on weekends, on evenings... it become a bit of an obsession but in a positive way," she added.
The mural will be split into three panels, each being 16 feet high and 12 feet wide. Pearce mentioned this large size still wasn't enough to highlight all of the interesting things about the Chatham area.
"I felt like I could do a fourth panel," she said.
The full mural won't be unveiled for a few weeks. Work to replace the current mural is expected to happen later this month, with hopes of showing off the new design on July 10.