Miami group comes up with an intriguing way to dress up vacant storefronts

A group in Miami, Oklahoma, has fashioned a way to dress up its downtown using the windows of a long-vacant storefront.

According to a recent story by KSNF-TV, the empty Milner Berkey Antique Store in downtown Miami is being used to pay tribute to renowned local artist Charles Banks Wilson using large panels placed in its windows.

Debbie East of the Ottawa County Musicians Tribute Committee said the next tributes will be to Lynyrd Skynyrd musicians Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines, who were born in Miami.

Here’s the story:

Colby Allen of Allen Signs made the vinyl panels of Wilson so they could be placed in the long-closed antique store’s windows.

Debbie’s main goal is to add more buzz and culture to the historic Route 66 Main Street.
“It’s just the coolest thing ever; we loved doing this … we morphed from music into all areas of art so it’s really been fun.”

Other Route 66 towns should take note of their empty buildings and use that opportunity to play up their local history.

Getting access to those buildings might be the most complicated part. If the building involved is eventually sold, those vinyl panels can be easily moved to another vacant structure or displayed in a local museum instead.

(Screen-capture image from KSNF-TV report of the new murals in a Miami, Oklahoma, storefront)

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