News

Steve Prefontaine Mural Chosen August 09, 2017

A recent alteration downtown has caught the attention of at least a few citizens. The painted obelisk on the City-owned, north-facing wall at 275 South Broadway Street (formerly known as the Pedway), has disappeared. Not to worry, it was not purloined by Caesar’s troops to be taken to Rome like so many other Egyptian obelisks. Rather, it was painted over, along with the complete wall extending to South 2nd Court, to make way for a mural project on the portion of walls nearest Broadway. The mural will be a composition to honor the life of Steve Prefontaine, Coos Bay’s legendary distance runner who ran for Marshfield High School, then went on to an outstanding career at the University of Oregon and competed in the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

Selection of the mural design was made by Linda Prefontaine and the Prefontaine Foundation, along with input from the City Council, after renderings were presented by Erik Nicolaisen of Old City Artists. The mural will be an exciting addition to the downtown and is sure to be a huge tourist attraction for years to come. The final mural creation is being refined and is expected to be presented to the City next week. The art work to develop the mural is expected to begin around September 1.

Mural Wall photo