Fundraiser rakes in $4,000 in one day for new downtown Chilliwack mural

A fundraising campaign to raise $4,000 for a downtown mural in Chilliwack was so successful, the entire amount was raised within just 24 hours.

Local business owner and mural enthusiast, Amber Price, set up the fundraiser on Tuesday and by Wednesday her goal was reached, thanks to generous donations from the community.

“The success of this fundraising initiative shows both how much people love their downtown and murals,” Price said.

She used the popular platform GoFundMe which brought in about $1,400, but the majority of the funds were by e-transfer, plus cheques and cash that came directly to her place of work.

One person even stopped by on Wednesday morning and handed Price $1,000 in cash.

“Together, we are better, and what is unaffordable for one becomes affordable when split between many caring and generous individuals.”

Price was recently granted permission to install the mural on the rear wall of a Wellington Avenue building.

Eight murals were installed in the same area as part of the inaugural Chilliwack Mural Festival this summer, but Price who organized the event, still wants to see more.

READ MORE: Inaugural Chilliwack Mural Festival nearly complete

The $4,000 will go directly towards: closing in the porch to increase surface area and negate undesirable activity there; buying paint for the mural and supplies to prep the area; paying an artist a fair commission to create the piece, Price added.

(Story continues below photo)

The mural will be painted by Chilliwack artist Kyle Mirva, one of the five local artists who took part in Chilliwack Mural Festival.

In August, Mirva painted a blue-toned portrait of a woman with splashes of fluorescent pink across her face and body. It is located in a boarded-up doorway on Mill Street.

Mirva’s new mural will be much larger.

“His vision is of an elfin beauty,” Price said. “He wants to incorporate fireflies and fairies and make it a celebration of the ethereal, using paint to show reflected light and magic.”

The vibrant murals installed during the festival aren’t the only way Price has been sprucing up downtown Chilliwack lately.

Armed with brooms and garbage bags, she and a team of volunteers have been cleaning up commercial properties around Five Corners every Sunday for the past several weeks.

READ MORE: Volunteer cleaning crew using elbow grease to improve downtown Chilliwack

Now that some of those spaces have been tidied up and are free of trash, Price wants to beautify downtown even more with this next large-scale mural.

“This piece will give a place for a budding artist to share their gifts with the community,” she said. “For me, this piece will be special because so many people came together to make it happen. It will belong to all of us.”