The Brundidge Business Association dedicated its backstreet mural project Wednesday afternoon. But the mural is more than a painting on the wall. It’s the story of the people who took a chance and made financial investments in the small, rural town nearly a century ago.

Those who gathered for the dedication ceremony admired the outstanding artwork of the artist and each of the four mural panels brought memories of contributing community members including the Johnstons, Helms, Jacksons, Ryals and Thurmans – of places, the Sarah Charles Hotel, the Ballard Boarding House and “the dormitory.” Everybody had a story to tell or an ear to listen.

“That’s what we had hoped the mural would do. Remember the past and keep it alive for the future,” said Dixie Shehane, BBA past president. “The mural project has been a work in progress since 2015. Delatha Mobley had the idea for the mural and we were all excited about the opportunity to tell stories about our community, past and present, through murals on the walls of downtown businesses.”

The BBA commissioned local artist, Amanda Trawick, to do a 100-foot mural on the back wall of the Brundidge Fire Department just off North Main Street.

“The idea was to show scenes from businesses in that area in the 1920s and 1930s,” Shehane said. “Amanda painted several scenes on small canvases and we liked them all. She had captured on canvas exactly what we all imagined life would have been like.”

The BBA mural committee including Shehane, Jimmy Ramage, Delatha Mobley, Sylvia Thurman, Ann Andrews, Sara Bowden and Chuck Caraway agreed on four scenes, — a railroad station, a fire truck, a cotton warehouse and a horse-drawn hearse.

“Amanda had captured them all, perfectly, on canvas and we were confident that we had commissioned the right artist for our mural,” Shehane said.

For Trawick, the mural project was more than a painting on canvas. It was a journey back in time as she tapped the memories of many residents and Brundidge historian John Phillip Johnston.

“I could sit and listen to him for hours,” she said. “I enjoyed his stories and learned so much about Brundidge and those times.”

When Trawick was working on the railroad sketch, Sylvia Thurman shared a story that is reflected in the mural.

Thurman was at the dedication and shared the story with those surrounding her.

“I was in college at Alabama State in Montgomery and, from time to time, my mother would fix me a box of soul food and send it up on the train,” she said. “She would meet the train here in Brundidge and, in just a little while, I would be eating fried chicken and cornbread.”

Thurman’s mom is pictured along with a little that might be “Little Sylvia” or any one of the many children who met the train with peaches or blackberries they had picked or teacakes their mamas had baked. They went home with empty buckets and jingles in their pockets.

The BBA’s backstreet mural is a slice of history. Fodder for stories to be shared. A work of art in which the people of the Brundidge can take great pride.

“And, we hope, the inspiration for others to design mural projects that tell othere stories of our town and our people,” Shehane said.