A Park Rapids candy store has received a new paint job to celebrate the town.

Last week was the first time the community got to see the new mural painted on Aunt Belle’s Confectionary in downtown Park Rapids in its full glory. For business owner, Ray Carlson it was time for a change.

The City of Park Rapids then started taking commissions for the new public art. The design chosen was by Minneapolis artist Lili Lennox. For her, this was an exciting project which came at a time where a lot of artistic ventures are being canceled or postponed.

From start to finish, the project took around 18 months to organize and a week to paint. The mural takes up about 75 feet. About 10 sponsors were needed to raise the funding necessary. The vision was to express the pride for the arts and businesses of the downtown.

There are even some hidden Easter eggs within the work, including an homage to the previous mural with the addition of a Minnesota loon.

The next thing planned for the mural is to add time-sensitive lighting to the wall so it can be seen at any time of the day.

By — Betsy Melin