Visitors entering downtown Winchester from North Main Street will soon be greeted by smiling faces of some of Clark County’s future leaders.

Bo Harris and Liz Fountain, owners of the Clark County Child Development Center, have commissioned Lexington artist Dani Greene to complete the “Future of Success” mural on the exterior of their new childcare and community center to be located on North Main Street in the former Thoroughbred Gymnastics building.

Most Clark Countians are familiar with the images of tumbling gymnasts that used to adorn the wall. Within the next two weeks, the wall, which faces Dairy Queen in downtown Winchester, will feature the faces of more than a dozen local children. They will be laughing, smiling, making strange faces and more.

The couple opted to have a mural painted to pay tribute to their vision with the community center — to positively impact local youth — but also to mark the arts district that is steadily developing on North Main Street.

The community center will call the likes of Leeds Center for the Arts, Dirty South Pottery and the Art Guild neighbors, to name a few.

The mural will be a beautiful addition to downtown, which already boasts several murals, including one on the rear of The Winchester Sun building and CVS.

While this mural will transform a plain wall into something aesthetically pleasing, its impact will be further reaching.

Murals like these add vibrancy to areas like downtown, which often face a negative stigma in the community.

They also mark areas of pride in the community and can become iconic.

We are proud of the work being done on North Main Street. In recent years, business and property owners have banded together to improve that area of downtown, making efforts to deter crime, improve the appearance of the buildings, recruit new businesses and residents and promote the arts in the community.

This mural will be a pleasant reminder of the work that has already been done and that the children who are raised in this community will be critical to its success.

 

Editorials represent the opinion of the newspaper’s editorial board. The board is comprised of publisher Michael Caldwell and managing editor Whitney Leggett. To inquire about a meeting with the board, contact Caldwell at 759-0095.