TOLEDO, Ohio — If you've ever passed the towering silos on your way to downtown Toledo and thought maybe they could use a little color, there's good news.
Those silos will be getting a facelift soon, going from drab gray to a vibrant spectrum of color.
The update is thanks to some local neighbors from all different kinds of professional backgrounds. A 160,000-square-foot mural will be painted on the 28 silos along the Maumee River. The silos are owned by ADM, a company that aims at feeding the world.
The project's operation manager Nicole Leboutillier says this ties into the theme of the mural perfectly.
"Their mission is feeding the world and it tied in really nicely with the fact that this is a project about the first farmers and Native Americans and economic development," said Leboutillier.
Project manager Christina Kasper said they came up with the theme of the mural after their team found a stone monument along the Maumee River, commemorating the area as a Native American fortification.
Kasper said the team knew this was the perfect way to honor Toledo's Native Americans.
"They were the first farmers in this region. They were the first people to recognize what really makes us prosperous to this day and that is the value of the Maumee River," Kasper said.
Gabe Gault, an artist from California, is the person behind the paintbrush. He will be flying to Toledo to work on the project starting in June.
The Glass City River Wall team says out of applicants from around the world, Gault's vision for the mural aligned perfectly with theirs.
"To me, it always had to be something that represented motherhood and childhood and the former farmers of the land and Ohio," Gault explained.
The Glass City River Wall is expected to be completed by the Solheim Cup at the end of August.
