Greetings from Union County Blairsville Mural Georgia

Greetings from Union County, Georgia in Blairsville! We want to express our gratitude to Jake Gooch for organizing this project and inviting us to the beautiful mountain community of northern Georgia. Jake's profound love for his hometown is exceptional, and his family's longstanding connection to the area adds to his dedication. He generously invested his own resources to commemorate the community's history for both residents and tourists. This mural project was a long time in the making on his end we appreciate him reaching out to collaborate with us. After all, his concept was a large letter postcard mural and it’s what we do best!

Jake Gooch - Blairsville, GA — Jake Gooch / Founder of Gooch & Fifty, LLC

To create a unique & interactive element, Jake is creating a video that will provide a detailed explanation of the imagery painted within the letters. You will soon be able to find the video on his page: Gooch & Fifty. Furthermore, a plaque next to the mural will display a QR code, enabling visitors to access additional information about the artwork.

This is our second mural in the state of Georgia that’s part of our nationwide series of over 60+ large letter postcard murals across 26+ states to date. We hope that this will encourage travelers to explore this area of Georgia and learn some history as they collect their photos to get on our wall of fame.

Collaborative Mural Design

For most of our projects, we spend more time doing the research and working with the community on the design than painting the actual mural. Jake Gooch, having dedicated years to this endeavor, already had a clear vision of what he wanted to include in the artwork. The extensive list of images posed a challenge, as our pricing is usually based on the number of unique images incorporated into the mural. However, given Jake's remarkable efforts to give back to his community, we worked diligently to find a solution to bring his complete vision to life regardless of the budget.

To be honest, it was refreshing to not have to work with a committee on the design and instead have a client that was fully trusting of our process. In turn, we also trusted the client with his expertise in tons of historical facts. While explaining the context behind images being painted, we discovered that it became a learning opportunity for long-time locals as well.

Painting the Union County, GA Mural

With the quick turnaround of this project during our busy summer, we couldn’t make it out for the project ourselves due to other deadlines. Victor worked on all of the pre-production from Pasadena and shipped everything out for the team. We assembled the A-team led by David Wang to knock this out within a week. Special thanks to Ben Janik, Maple TCI and Casey Bolding for joining to work on this project with us. Our install crew for this project consisted of artists from New York, Los Angeles, Boston and regional artists from Georgia. As always, it takes a village to create a successful piece of public artwork.

The guys helped knock this mural out in record speed. These days, we are humbled by all the talent supporting us out there and welcome new techniques from the various artists we work with. Almost every mural we do with a new artist, there’s a learning experience and we hope to reciprocate with a little bit of our knowledge as well.

We got connected with Shari Odom from Odom Springs Vineyards who provided their lodge for our artists to stay at for the week. A lot of people aren’t even aware of an Appalachian wine country. “For more than a century, the Odom family has owned land in the Young Cane valley. The vineyards and winery are situated on 16 acres of their property. Historically, Union County natives have developed deep roots in Appalachia where farming was not only a job but a way of life. The Odom family has farmed these hills for years, and it is their desire to continue this tradition by producing outstanding wines from the grapes grown in the uniquely fertile soils of the ancient Appalachian Mountains.” Source: Odom Springs Vineyards

David trying boiled peanuts for the first time!

The 4 artists worked through several days of on and off rain but impressively pulled out this mural in only 5 days! They worked non-stop from sunrise to sunset and tackled 11 letters with over 20+ unique images across all the letters with accuracy and speed. We can’t thank them enough for all their hard work in completing this way ahead of schedule. Jake was also key to making sure everything was properly prepped and all of the equipment secured prior to our arrival. There’s usually always some kind of a surprise when we arrive, but this time it all went very smoothly.

Ben Janik, Mapl TCI, Casey Bolding & David Wang

Touring Union County

Since the mural was finished early, Jake was kind enough to take David and Casey around town to see all of the images they had spent many hours painting. There were all kinds of interesting stories and quirky details about the area. One in particular was documented in a book titled “Blood Mountain Covenant: A Son's Revenge.” It’s a true crime story behind the gruesome murder of John Lance, a man who preached the word of God and was loved by the friends and family of his small town (who eventually got their revenge.) Jake’s mom is a Lance descendant with historical ties to this story which made it even more interesting. Well worth a read if you are interested in true crime!

We also learned a lot about the Gooch family’s deep roots in the area dating back to the 1800’s. Those who are familiar with hiking and camping along the Appalachian Trail may be familiar with locations such as Gooch Mountain and Gooch Gap. The local tour helped give some of the artists a lot more context and meaning to the artwork they leave behind. Our hope is that the mural will instill the heritage and history of the town for future generations to come. Blairsville will certainly become be a routine stop of ours every time we pass through the area!

“When I first began this project in February of 2021, I was looking for the perfect mural in hopes to turn it into an interactive experience. I had originally had a local artist sketch one up for me, but due to unforseen circumstances and a “coincidence” beyond my control, that sketch plan fell through. The 2nd sketch attempt from another local artist was ready to go, but unfortunately after setting a deadline date to finally bring my project to life, that artist was in a car wreck that broke his left hand and wrist which he uses to paint. This left me feeling extremely helpless and frustrated, but luckily, I was able to find Greetings Tour and connect with Victor. From the very beginning, Victor was extremely helpful and cooperative as he listened to my plans and helped to ensure me that we could get the perfect mural sketch to use for the interactive tour experience I wanted to implement. I can’t thank Victor and his team enough for all they have done and making a dream of mine come true! I highly recommend anyone or any city to use their services to give their city the perfect brand for itself!”

— Jake Gooch / Founder of Gooch & Fifty, LLC

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