Bijou Park mural completed in downtown Wilmington

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - On Wednesday, May 31, the City of Wilmington announced the completion of the new mural at Bijou Park in downtown Wilmington.

The mural was created by artists Jhonattan and Samantha Arango, a husband and wife team based out of South Florida. They were chosen out of 34 proposals received by the Arts Council of Wilmington/NHC. A $25,000 grant from PNC Foundation helped fund the mural’s creation.

Bijou Park was officially opened on Wednesday, Feb. 8, after a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The location used to be home to the Bijou Theatre, Wilmington’s first movie theatre and the state’s first permanent ‘moving picture’ theatre. It opened in 1906 as a tent with 300 folding chairs inside, and then the doors to the first structured movie theatre opened in 1912. It was shut down years over 40 years later, eventually getting torn down in 1963.

Though most of the theatre was destroyed when it was torn down, the original floor tiles remain at the modern-day Bijou Park.

You can visit the park at 209 N Front St., between Chestnut and Grace streets.

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