Hotel Blog

Just Out For A Drive

Have you travelled to Pembroke and seen the numerous wall murals depicting the past, present and future of the city?  Have you been Port Dover and seen the creatively painted pigs in the downtown core? Well, Welland now has two such projects completed. 

The first project was in 2015, Welland was a part of the Toronto Pan Am Games.  We were the host location for water sports, Canoe Polo to be exact.  To commemorate the event, to encourage community involvement and to create a legacy project, the city engaged local artists to paint canoes. A few of these canoes are located within walking distance of the hotel; within 3km you will see six of them.  Each one of them is unique and painted by a local artist. My favorites are at Merritt Island for this history that is depicted and the Rose painted one for the artistic talent, this one is near the Main Street Bridge. 

Sometimes when on vacation I know my partner just wants to drive around the downtown to see the city, so I tell him to pull over and explore a little closer when we see something nice. It is fun to discover what makes a city unique, and it’s inexpensive. I heard of someone making a list of them all then doing selfies at each one and did it by bicycle. 

The second edition to the city’s love for art is the Bell Box program which was completed in 2021.  Have you seen the big bulk metal boxes in your city, every city has them, and we painted ours! Most are painted with a theme that is suitable for the area they are located. They are spread out in the city so definitely an exploration by bike or car would be needed. Each one was hand painted by a local artist, and we have themes of hockey, water, animals, something for everyone with 17 in total. 

Keep alert on your next drive through Welland to see these newest additions to our arts culture, and also look for the murals on the building as early as the 1900’s. The mural listings are found on this website: http://www.infoniagara.com/attractions/murals_of_welland/index.aspx, keep in mind these murals are unfortunately, no maintained and some may have been removed. 

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