Ramona Chamber mural ready to go

Ramona Chamber of Commerce has reached its goal of $8,300 to have its mural on the east wall of 677 Main St., the building that until a few years ago housed Ramona Pharmacy and is now home to Affordable Treasures.

Juanita Hayes, public affairs manager for San Diego Gas & Electric, was in town last Thursday with an oversized check for $2,500 to go toward the project. The utility kicked off the chamber’s mural fundraising campaign with a $1,000 donation last year and donated another $1,500 this year.

The late artist Louise McIntosh Shidner’s 1982 oil painting depicting her uncle Daniel McIntosh driving one of his horse-drawn freight wagons in the 700 block of Main Street, is the image that will go on the wall. McIntosh, an early settler in the Santa Maria Valley, was one of the few men who drove a 20-horse team from Ramona to San Diego in the early 1900s, and chamber leaders thank the Shidner family for permission to use the image for the chamber mural showing early commerce in Ramona.

The professional mural team of Billick, Martensen, and Teague, visual communication specialists, will do the mural.

The chamber thanked SDG&E and Complete Property Improvements Inc., which donated $500, for kicking off the fundraising campaign. Bob Krysak, Ramona attorney and chamber director, completed the campaign with a donation of $800, reported S. Elaine Lyttleton, president of the seven-member Ramona H.E.A.R.T. Mural Project Board. Krysak is board secretary.

Ramona H.E.A.R.T. Mural Project’s mission is “to encourage economic vitality by increasing tourism, promoting community pride, and celebrating our rich cultural heritage through an outstanding outdoor visual arts program.”

The acronym H.E.A.R.T. reflects Ramona as the geographic center of San Diego County as well as the character of the community: “H” for Historic and Hiking, “E” for Equine, “A” for Arts, Antiques and Agriculture, “R” for scenic rural vistas and drives, and “T” for Tasting of fine wines.

The chamber mural will be the town’s third. The first is the Casey Tibbs mural on the Town & Country Home Loans and Real Estate building at the corner of 10th and Main streets and the second is the equine-themed mural on the Ramona Business Barn wall off Fourth and Main streets.

The names of chamber mural sponsors donating $100 or more will be listed on a plaque on the mural.