BENCHES & MURALS TO:

This is a community-led project that added much-needed seating and a colorful place-specific mural to the Person Street streetscape. In response to the City of Raleigh’s “Wish You Were Here” campaign, a grassroots neighborhood team seamlessly formed, working alongside the Person Street Partnership (PSP).

All agreed on a mural, but neighborhood architect/placemaker Tina Govan had noticed kids and families sitting on parking lots and curbs, with no place to sit, and so public benches were also proposed.

Tina worked with local craftsman Jeff Magner to design and craft the benches. Today, they create a kind of “front porch” to local small businesses, enlivening the street, boosting business, and inviting passersby to linger.

They support the pedestrian and social experience of Person Street, the out-of-your-car experience, while simultaneously inviting  customers to enter the shops they front. Helping make Person Street for “persons.”

The community has long been working to make Person Street  a place for people, a destination, not just a way to drive out of town.

This project has taken a big leap towards that goal, only because we all worked together towards making it happen. A beautiful lesson for the city and for all of us! 

Local artist Skillet Gilmore developed the mural and Matthew Scofield of The Raleigh Mural Project was enlisted to paint it. The mural calls for us to “Build a Better Person,” the PSP’s inspirational slogan, enlivening parklet-activated Pace Street and adding a cheerful place-identifying marker visible to anyone coming down Person Street.