The city of Lewes seems likely to get a new piece of public art, reflecting its history as a railroad town.
At a city council meeting on Monday, Public Art Committee Chair Heidi Lowe and Peninsula Gallery owner Tony Boyd-Heron presented a plan to install a permanent mural on the wall of the Margaret H. Rollins Community Center. That mural, to be painted by artist Michael Rosato, would portray an historic train boarding at the Lewes station.
The 22-by-10-foot mural would complement the installation of an historic locomotive, which was officially unveiled on May 9, National Train Day. Lowe says the mural adds to the charm of the site.
“I really feel like it brings the whole train area together. It gets it all the way through and ties a bow,” she said. “It looks great, and Michael is such an amazing artist.”
The mural wouldn’t require additional funds from the city, Boyd-Heron said. Its $18,250 price tag would be covered by Art in Bloom, the Lewes Junction Railroad and Bridge Association, and money already allocated to the city’s Public Art Committee.
This would be Rosato’s second work for the city. In 2025, he produced a mural for the city’s Stango Park. Mayor Amy Marasco said she was a fan of the first mural.
“After that mural went up, all I did was look around the city for blank walls,” she said. “Like, where else can we have fabulous murals?”
To come to fruition, the mural project is on parallel tracks, appearing for a vote Monday in front of city council, while also up for approval from the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission, likely next Monday.
While supportive of the project, Councilman Tim Ritzert criticized the process of letting council take a vote before Parks and Recreation, saying that that body shouldn’t be influenced by a council decision. Councilman Joe Elder agreed with the emphasis on following the process, although he also supports the mural.
“I'm so excited about this project, but I do believe that sometimes it's important to follow procedure and process and rules,” he said.
Marasco seemed to disagree, however.
“I want to respect what Councilman Richard said - let's watch this process,” she said. “But I don't want to encourage months of bureaucracy either.”
Marasco offered a compromise measure, a council vote to approve the project, conditioned on approval from the Parks and Recreation Commission as well. A motion to do that passed unanimously.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
