BURLINGTON — After more than two years of debate, multiple defacements and several waves of public outcry, a contentious mural was removed Friday from Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace.
The “Everyone Loves a Parade” mural has been slated to come down since the fall of 2018, following criticism that the mural is both racist and classist, though the Burlington City Council had originally set a deadline of August 2022 for the deconstruction.
The City Council voted unanimously Monday night on the timeline for the removal, and approved $25,000 for the project.
On Thursday and Friday, workers removed the art, panel by panel, two full years ahead of schedule.
Underneath, they revealed an older mural (first painted in 1992) called “Rainforest,” which is slated to be restored by its original artist, Gina Carrera. The newly revealed mural features a cool, rainforest landscape, complete with monkeys, leopards and penguins.
The mural, which has been displayed on Leahy Way in the Church Street Marketplace District since 2012, has been criticized over the years by many Burlington residents as racist and non-inclusive.
Monday’s measure was part of a series of requests included in the Parks, Art and Culture Committee’s resolution. The panel also asked the council to approve up to $25,000 to remove the mural and restore the painting it overlaid.
Meanwhile, “Everyone Loves a Parade” will be stored at Burlington International Airport, and the council’s Parks, Arts and Culture Committee and city departments will develop a recommendation for the relocation or permanent disposition of the mural by the end of September.
The mural was first erected in the privately owned alleyway connecting Church Street to a parking garage in 2012, paid for with a fundraising campaign from the Church Street Marketplace, to commemorate French explorer Samuel de Champlain’s arrival to the region 400 years earlier. At the time, the piece received generally positive feedback from the greater Burlington community.
However, over time, a growing number of critics began to call out the mural for its lack of inclusion of the Abenaki tribe, and other people of color. The artwork depicts an array of famous Vermonters and business owners throughout the state’s history, featuring overwhelmingly white Vermonters.
In 2017 and 2018, the mural was defaced a number of times, first with spray painted messages like “colonizers” and “OFF THE WALL,” which were quickly washed away. However, later vandalism attempts used paint stripper to remove faces from the left side of the mural, which caused permanent damage to the piece.
The acts of vandalism, along with other public outcries, spurred action from the City Council, which first voted to remove the mural in 2018, and then ultimately, voted again to pick up the pace for that action.
