One month into its permanent residence, the sidewalk pride mural has been defaced with two black skid marks. The mural is located in front of the Marblehead Chamber of Commerce Information Booth, on an island between Pleasant Street and Essex Street.
The idea for its creation was originally presented to the Select Board by the Cultural Council on June 14, and was crafted by artist Ties Jan de Blij less than a week later. Since then, it has been met with both positive and negative feedback from residents.
However, these mysterious black markings could be the first physical sign of disdain for the mural.
Long-time resident and Information Booth staff member Phil Cash notified the police upon discovering the skid marks. Cash said that he noticed the first marking on Saturday morning, and the second one was not present until Sunday morning. He notified the police in both instances, as well as took to Facebook to send a warning to the potential culprits.
“I was really ticked about it, so I put a thing up saying, ‘Whoever’s doing it, stop,’” Cash said. “I said, ‘The police are looking for you…’ I was trying to scare them off.”
Cash emphasized that he, unfortunately, did not bear witness to either of the potentially intentional acts.
The Marblehead Pride Committee, in charge of many LGBTQ+ events, posted a statement to Instagram saying that it is not backing down from spreading its message and endorsing the mural.
“We are determined to educate and strengthen the bonds of our community until every individual feels respected,” the statement said. “TJ de Blij’s artwork is a symbol of love and peace. This is the message we will continue to spread throughout our town.”
Police Chief Dennis King expressed his disappointment in the defacement of the pride painting, whether it was purposeful or not. He gave an update on the police department’s investigation of how these markings came to be.
“We are investigating to determine who is responsible for what appears to be bike-tire marks,” he said. “We have not identified anyone at this point.”
The Marblehead Cultural Council convened on Monday night, and the mural’s defacing became the main topic of conversation. While the council was a driving force behind the mural’s creation, it technically did not have further stewardship over it once the project was completed.
Therefore, the council discussed how to best proceed with involving itself in the restoration process properly. The discussion centered around a potential partnership with the Task Force Against Discrimination to help facilitate an eventual transition of stewardship over the mural. Chair Jennifer Uhl explained why the task force is better suited to lead the maintenance and reclamation of this kind of project.
“The task force was put together specifically for this,” Uhl said. “One of the chairs told me ‘We replaced all the Black Lives Matter signs that got torn down.’ So they are active and working toward those kinds of things.”
Uhl contrasted that with the purpose of the council, which is to fund projects like the pride mural with grants. Since the Cultural Council has a budget and the task force does not, Uhl and the council have come up with a concept in which it would raise a certain amount of money for the task force to then use on repairing the mural in whatever manner its members feel is best.
“They do things like that and we can help and be a part of it,” Uhl said. “But what I’m trying to do is make sure it happens but we’re not in charge of it.”
Uhl made sure to emphasize that this stewardship concept is solely in the discussion phase.