Fourteen artists spent a week transforming storefronts along Broadway Avenue in West Memphis, leaving behind fresh murals at barbershops, insurance offices, and a gas station that locals now stop to photograph. The 70on70 Mural Fest ran from August 11 through August 15, converting stretches of the city's main commercial corridor into an outdoor gallery, with new work still drawing attention days after the paint dried, including at Extreme Cutz on East Broadway.
The festival was organized by BAM West Memphis, formerly known as Main Street West Memphis, according to a City of West Memphis Facebook post. The event brought together nine visiting regional and national artists alongside five local creatives from the Mid-South, per the post, filling walls around two main hubs: the area surrounding Broadway Food Park at 306 E. Broadway, and the stretch between 7th and 9th Streets. Commercial properties that became canvases included Extreme Cutz at 901 E. Broadway, the Valero station at Broadway and 7th Street, Craft Insurance at 406 E. Broadway, Clippers Barber Shop at 823 E. Broadway, and Jackson, Howell & Associates at 301 E. Broadway.
A Roster That Traveled From Austin To England
Among the visiting muralists was Brittany Johnson, an award-winning muralist from Austin, Texas, whose work has become known for vibrant portraits and bold floral imagery. Johnson made the jump from traditional oil painting to large-scale spray-paint murals in 2018 at Austin's HOPE Outdoor Gallery, later going full-time as an artist in 2020, according to background reporting from Voyage Dallas. Other artists on the 70on70 roster included Memphis muralist Toonky Berry, Nico Cathcart, Taylord (Taylor Barnes), and Sean Coffey, with the group traveling in from as far as California, Florida, Texas, and England, per the 70on70 Mural Fest event listing.
One of the week's standout pieces came from Florida artist Jason Tetlak, who installed an interactive 3D mural titled Vision at Jackson, Howell & Associates. The piece reveals hidden visual elements when viewed through a red filter, a signature technique Tetlak has used across interactive street art projects nationwide, according to his own Facebook posts documenting the installation.
Broadway Food Park Anchors The Celebration
The weeklong painting effort wrapped with an evening celebration on Saturday, August 15, at Broadway Food Park, running from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and drawing more than 20 vendor booths, local food trucks, and live performances by Smooth Pat, Iyuana Childs, and the Broadway Elite Steppers. The food park itself sits on a once-vacant lot that had been occupied by a car dealership and tractor shop before a fire destroyed the buildings; Main Street West Memphis later redeveloped the site into a space that can accommodate up to 12 food trucks with shade and utility hookups, according to the West Memphis Advertising & Promotion Commission.
Keeping 14 artists fed and cool through an Arkansas August took a community effort. Groovy Greyhound Coffee & Creamery at 806 E. Broadway served as the festival's official headquarters and cooling station, while First United Methodist Church and St. Michael Catholic School supplied daily meals and care packages for painters working outdoors in the heat.
Murals Tied To Broader Downtown Investment
BAM West Memphis funds its public art and beautification work partly through annual fundraisers like Taste of the Town at Southland Casino Hotel, and it offers Broadway business owners matching Property Improvement Grants of up to $7,500 through an 85/15 match to support facade restorations, according to Main Street West Memphis. The mural festival lands amid a wider municipal push to reinvest in West Memphis's public spaces. Hoodline previously reported that the city broke ground on an aquatic center at Tilden Rodgers Park earlier this year, part of Mayor Marco McClendon's broader focus on upgrading public spaces citywide.
The corridor has also seen its share of loss alongside the renewal. Hoodline reported in February that the longtime East Broadway landmark Pancho's was demolished after 70 years in business, leaving a gap in the same commercial strip the mural festival is now working to revive. Between the new artwork, the grant programs, and the aquatic center project, organizers are betting that a more colorful, more walkable Broadway Avenue will keep drawing residents and visitors back downtown.
