The Cuero Main Street program and the Main Street Downtown District is proud and fortunate to partner with Downtown Muralist, Rafael Acosta Jr., on creating Public Art opportunities to attract visitors from other towns and cities. The goal is to increase tourism and sales tax revenue for our Downtown District and entire Cuero community.
In 2018, the City of Cuero commissioned an update to an existing mural on the backside of City Hall, in our utility drive-up alley. From that time, the creation of Art Alley was born. In April 2019, Cuero Main Street funds were expended, with the collaboration of the Promotions Committee, to create a Monarch Butterfly mural, representing Cuero’s designation as a Monarch City, just in time for prom pictures to be taken! We now see visitors purposefully coming to take pictures here.
In 2018, Cuero Main Street was awarded the Anice Read art grant from the Texas Downtown Association. We applied those funds to an additional collaboration between the Promotions Committee, Muralist Rafael Acosta Jr., and a downtown building owner to create a 2-story homage to the vintage 1912 Cuero Turkey Trot. It was an amazing process and is highly visible to travelers heading north and south on Esplanade, HWY 183. This project took place between May and June, 2019.
Through the success of the Cuero Main Street Mural Art Program, we have been contacted by the cities of Kenedy, Seguin, Edna and Nixon to discuss mural art projects that Rafael can create for them.
To finish the creation of Art Alley, in connection with the building owner and Cuero Main Street Advisory Board Chairman Frank Burns, the Promotions Committee has reached out to Junior and Senior CISD art students to help complete the vision. Rafael has graciously offered to further this project for little compensation in order to see to its fruition. Here is a sneak peak, pending weather conditions! The theme is Wildflowers, as Cuero is also part of DeWitt County’s Wildflower Capital of Texas.
