As if walking down Cousin Street (pronounced coo-zan by the locals) wasn’t nostalgic enough, world-renowned, local artist Phil Galatas has begun the parish’s first mural project at the corner of First and Cousin streets on the side of BB’s Corner Pub.
The wall painting is part of a collaborative effort between several different organizations to revitalize that part of town, Mural Committee member and Director of the city’s Cultural and Public Affairs Office Kim Bergeron said.
  
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The wall-painting will be a portrayal of turn of the century life on Cousin Street. Galatas is using a 100-year-old picture borrowed from the Slidell Museum to recreate the scene. So far, the Slidell resident-turned world-renowned artist has the skyline of past buildings, most of which are still standing today, and the streets painted on the wall. Next up are people, animals and other items relative to that area during the early 1900s.
Showcasing the mural, officials from the Mural Committee, Cultural and Public Affairs, councilmen and even Mayor Ben Morris were onsite recently dining on refreshments donated by Dish on First across the street from the painting.
Bergeron invited residents to dine at one of the outside tables at Dish on First from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to watch Galatas and “witness history in the making.”
The inaugural mural is expected to take another month to finish, after which more artists will be brought in to paint other murals around the area, eventually converting Olde Towne into a “giant outdoor art gallery,” Mural committee Chairperson Jo Ann Sciacca said.
Sciacca said the committee is using grant and donated money to pay for the murals. She said they have a long way to go and need more funding.
Anyone or organization wishing to make a donation can contact City of Slidell’s Department of Cultural & Public Affairs at 646-4375.
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