Murals can transform a city’s plain vanilla infrastructure into a dazzling story of its history, aspirations, and cultural heritage—moving things, as they say in Elmira, “From Blight to Brilliance!” That is the hope and intent of the third annual Elmira Infinite Canvas—Mural Fest 2025, Saturday, May 31 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

About a dozen muralists will be on hand to bring their drawings to life with color at the Lackawanna Rail Trail on Lake Street in the former Big Lots parking lot at the intersection of Lake Street and Washington Street. The event is enhanced with food trucks, live music, a wealth of children’s activities including face-painting by Jen Sekella, and more.

The murals are a project of Elmira Infinite Canvas, a public art program of Community Arts of Elmira, in collaboration with groups, organizations, businesses, and the City of Elmira, and funded by donations, sponsorships and grants, according to Lynne Rusinko, president of CAE’s board of directors.

“It’s great, it’s almost like an awards ceremony for public art,” says Dion Brown, who will be returning with another mural painting this year. “It’s an atmosphere of togetherness and creativity.” Dion’s design is currently in process.

Each artist has a lot of wall to cover—there are seventeen panels, each about thirty by fifteen feet. Tall ladders, cranes, and scaffolding are involved—and a great deal of paint. The concrete wall is prepared up to a week earlier with an underlayment of paint to smooth it, cover years of dingy grime, and create a better paint adhesion surface. Some artists begin their mural as soon as the prep work has dried, a few wait for Mural Fest to get started. It takes considerably more time than the festival afternoon to complete their work—but these folks are dedicated.

Muralist Filomena Jack (filomenajackstudio.com) came up with her design last fall when she was asked to create a panel for the local fashion show, Runway for a Cause, that could afterwards be translated to a mural. Filomena painted a skyscape wash of blues, yellows, and peachy pinks with vines twining across it reaching for the sun. “I always try to put an uplifting feeling in the design,” she says.

“There’s so many layers [to a mural],” she continues. “It tells a story of people who have hope, imagination, and energy to put into our community. We want our community to be vibrant and welcoming. And then each piece tells a story the artist is trying to communicate, whether it’s about history, artisans of colors telling their story, or historical places and people.” In a prior year, she had painted a happy wooly mammoth, having researched local history and discovered the name Chemung comes from the Delaware Indian word for “big tooth” or “horn in the water,” referencing mastodon remains found in and around the Chemung River.

Jharmi “Cuba” Leach’s panel is called “Black Aura” and was also originally created for Runway for a Cause. “I do black art,” he says, explaining that his work, which will have four black faces that look like flowers emerging from the earth, is about “how black people of all shades and binaries grow in abundance in the community, flourishing through adversity, full of vibrance and motion that pulls every organism around them into their gravity.

“The majority of my pieces are inspired by my community, especially the black community,” he continues, adding that the diversity of people working together is at the forefront of community revitalization.

Brent Stermer is a founding trustee of CAE, a real estate agent, and active in local government.

“The thing about Mural Fest is that it really tells the story of Elmira’s history, culture, identity, and what people envision our community to be,” Brent says. “It’s a very fun day! There’s music, people can dance, they can shop, there’s food trucks—this day is just full of energy. People want to know what stories we’re telling, they want to ask about the artists’ inspiration. People of all ages are really excited about the artwork. It’s transformational.”

Because Mural Fest is both free and family-friendly, many residents and visitors come from surrounding communities to picnic, enjoy the music, talk to the artists, and soak up some inspiration of their own. In fact, the artists themselves find the interaction with other artists and community members to be inspirational for them as well. Some observers bring water and snacks to the artists and ask lots of questions. The artists might consult each other and trade brushes from time to time.

“I feel so incredibly lucky,” Filomena says. “There are world-class artisans in our community, and getting to paint alongside them is an honor and humbling.”

“I like that people are interested and they’re going to ask questions,” Dion says. “Kids are the best. I take pictures with them and if they’re artistic I encourage them to keep going. It’s such an atmosphere of togetherness and creativity. People take pictures, news broadcasters do interviews, we get words of encouragement. It’s really a positive atmosphere.”

Cuba says he can happily multitask and talk with festival goers and his fellow artists all day. “You get a lot of outreach from it, the artist’s impact is incredible,” he says.

“Some of the most compelling comments from community members have been ‘Wow!’” Lynne says. “The businesses that partner with us really do care about people in Elmira. The murals uplifted not only the spaces but community members’ spirit and increased their feeling of pride that they too are part of something very special. This addresses blight in a creative way and it’s supportive to the creative economy.”

Most of the murals will be completed in the weeks after Mural Fest. When the final protective coat is applied they’re ready to be enjoyed for years to come. Brent often hears people say they want to come to Elmira to see the public art—there’s a map at the CAE website, communityartsofelmira.com—and they want to see what new public art is occurring.

“That always strikes me as a good sign of our ability to transform,” he says.