MONTHLY CHALLENGE | STREET ART | LOCAL TRAVEL
Small Town Street Art
The Striking Street Art of St Jacobs and St Thomas
For this month’s challenge, I knew I had a selection of street art photos from a variety of places that are a little more well-known than these small towns I am featuring. I thought it would be difficult to organize and choose a selection of photos, and then thought of a couple of smaller towns and cities where the art really stood out to me and enhanced my visits.
One of my favorite street art murals I have seen in recent years is in St Jacobs, Ontario. It is colorful and eye-catching and really brightened up that winter day when I visited a couple of years ago. A little bit of country (or any good music) really is good for the soul. I remember gazing at this mural for a while and am glad I captured a decent snapshot.
St Jacobs is a quaint village in Southwest Ontario, known for its Mennonite heritage, historic shops, theatre, and locally famous Farmers Market and Antique Market. The street art of this small town adds to the enjoyment of this revitalized and interesting destination a short drive from Waterloo.
I had the pleasure of discovering another smaller city with an interesting history last year. I stayed in “Railway City” — St Thomas, Ontario for a night and took in a few sites in between my visits to the local beach town of Port Stanley. You may have heard of Jumbo the Elephant, the star of the P.T. Barnum’s Greatest Show on Earth circus. But did you know that this amazing elephant was tragically killed in St Thomas? In 1885, following a performance, Jumbo was hit by a train. It is a very sad story, but his memory is honored in many ways in town, including with a majestic and massive sculpture that is well worth visiting.
Very close to the Jumbo statue, St Thomas has a pretty cool elevated park, converted from a railway bridge, and the first of its kind in Canada. Near the entrance of the park, I admired the beautiful and rustic mural featuring colorful images of Jumbo the Elephant.
Downtown St Thomas has a series of five ‘Explore Beautiful St Thomas’ murals with different highlights of the area. It was difficult to get a great picture of the whole series. But I managed to capture a couple of shots and took an individual shot of my favorite of the five, a girl in a blue dress with a bicycle heading to Pinafore Park.
It turns out St Thomas has a pretty amazing selection of murals well beyond what I managed to see in my short visit last year. I look forward to going back and enjoying a more leisurely time exploring this small city and going to visit several more unique and colorful murals.
While big cities often have incredible street art, sometimes these smaller places can surprise you with their creativity and inspiration. It is an element that helps make a smaller town more interesting to visit. You can generally enjoy the art without a crowd, and support local tourism in these underrated destinations.
A couple of other articles I really enjoyed for this month’s challenge:
I really enjoyed the random variety of cool street art featured in Michael Rhodes article
Adrienne Beaumont’s article on Cordoba brought back some wonderful memories of my short visit there in 2020
Thanks for reading!
© 2023 Nella DiCarlo
