An apparent windstorm knocked down a Route 66 mural in Lexington, Illinois, that was created by a local teenager barely six months ago.
Karen Wingo, owner of the Thrift Avenue store along Route 66 in downtown Lexington, told the Pontiac Daily Leader she discovered the damage over Easter weekend.
Wingo was first alerted to the damage by business neighbor Mary Beth Wright, who sent Wing a text stating, “your fancy sign is in trouble.” Initially, Wingo suspected Wright was referring to the arrow sign she had recently purchased.
“When I looked out front to see how the mural was doing, it was flat on its face in the grass. I was pretty sad about it,” Wingo said. “I guess there was a gust of wind that just took it out. Lexington has a lot of wind and I guess a tunnel was created and the structure used to hold the sign up wasn’t strong enough.”
Prior to the mural falling, Wingo had spoken with people about determining whether to use cables to hold the sign in place, but she hadn’t gotten around to it.
According to data from Weather Underground, nearby Bloomington, Illinois, experienced wind gusts of up to 44 mph on March 31 — the day the mural blew over.
Wingo said she wasn’t sure whether she would restore the mural. In addition to the cost, a few neighbors complained about the mural blocking their views.
Wingo posted on her Thrift Avenue account on Facebook that the operators of the neighboring Castle Gardens business have offered to use their tractor to prop up the downed sign with blocks of wood to keep the artwork off the wet ground.
At the time the mural was created in October by University (Normal) High School teen Anna Cappas, the city of Lexington paid $350 for the paint and Wingo covered the remaining expenses.
(Images of the Route 66 mural in Lexington, Illinois, by Thrift Avenue via Facebook)
Obviously Karen Wingo should change her name to Scary Windo……. On a more practical note, just how safe was the display in even low wind conditions? I have recently repaired a neighbour’s wood panel fence, using angle steel set in concrete to keep the panels upright in strong wind. The wooden 4 x 4 verticals seen in the photo – supporting what looks like a nine or ten foot high structure, even with the air gap at the bottom – were way too flimsy. Why no angled support bracing set into the ground back and front? At least no one was hurt when it was blown flat.