Life

Painters create additional mural in Grove Park to recognize Flemington history

FLEMINGTON -- Grove Community Park in Flemington has another mural thanks to continued community participation.

Recently, Art Post Awareness and Paul Clark completed a new mural on the restrooms at the park which features -- much like the others -- a peak into Flemington's past.

Clark, the son of the late Edythe Clark, previously helped touch up his late mother's mural that was painted in 2002. Twenty years later, he and his sister, Linda Clark-Hanley, breathed new life into their mother's mural -- located on one side of the restrooms in 2022.

Edythe's mural depicted a calming streamside farm with geese landing on the water and a bear strolling nearby as the subject of the painting.

A year later in 2023, the borough -- with the help of Clark and George Stefanski and his senior center art class, placed a mural on the opposite side of the structure which depicted the Hanna-Tidlow Canoe Livery on the canal in Flemington.

Once again, Clark and Stefanski worked together to complete a third mural on the structure this summer, with the support of Flemington Borough Council.

Borough Recreation Chair and Council Member Wayne Allison said Stefanski and Clark were interested in another mural.

"(George's) painting class is always looking for places to paint," Allison explained. "I told Paul if they wanted to use the other part of the restroom they could."

The volunteer artists chose to depict a canal scene once again, a staple of the borough's history.

"They painted a canal scene in Flemington when the canal was a vibrant piece of the landscape... several people worked on it," he said.

The mural was completed in late July, meaning the restroom area is nearly wrapped in local artwork.

"It's like a Norman Rockwell painting," Allison said. "The more you look at it the more details you see."

Allison noted the artists used a lot of creativity in creating the mural, noting little details that not many may notice.

"There are two things that are pretty interesting to me. The horse (in the mural) is named Mabel and there's a woman with her... it's right where the women's bathroom is," he said. "On the other end is the men's restroom and they painted a men's warehouse -- there was no such thing in Flemington called that as far as I'm aware."

Allison noted the borough donated funds to help cover the cost of paints and other supplies for the process. He thanked Clark and Stefanski for spearheading the initiative.

"There's a lot of creativity in that group. When they get together they feed off of each other. It was great, it benefited the borough tremendously and probably the seniors that got to participate in the original design," Allison said. "It was a win-win for everybody."