Thirteen Years in the Making: Vero Beach's Inaugural Mural Festival

Vero Minute
Nov 17, 2025
2 min read

It began with a single wall. Thirteen years ago, Neli Santamarina, owner of Raw Space, commissioned local artists Sick Fisher and photographer Jared Thomas to paint one of Vero's first large-scale murals. This leap of faith set everything else in motion.

Vice Mayor and owner of Kilted Mermaid Linda Moore was watching. For the next 13 year she championed the idea of public art. This past May, when the Downtown Mural Project partnered with Main Street Vero Beach and sent out a Call to Artists, sixty applications came back from across the country.

The key to bringing in world-class talent was Nicole Salgar, who cold-called Moore back in 2017 to ask if she wanted a mural on her building. Salgar, recently selected to paint inside the Dali Museum, helped curate the festival's roster. Between Santamarina's initial spark, Moore's persistence, and Salgar's connections, the inaugural festival had everything it needed.

Linda Moore

Neli Santamarina

Nicole Salgar

Murals Matter

Research shows that areas with murals see measurably higher foot traffic. Cincinnati's BLINK festival, for example, drew two million people in 2022, generating $126 million in economic impact.

While we're not Cincinatti, its proven that murals serve as low-cost placemaking tools, create identity, foster pride and make streets feel safer -- investments which pay big dividends in tourism, local spending, and community engagement.

The Artists

Nine Florida-based artists worked on the festival. Three painted permanent walls during the week of November 2-9:

Muta Santiago at the Chamber of Commerce
Morgan Summers at Childcare Resources
Claudio Picasso in an alleyway

Six more painted MDO boards during the three-day festival, November 7-9:

Daniel Mastera and Linwood Fuller (Off Island Studio)
James Newman
Mwanel Pierre Louis
Christian Stanley
Joshua Hall and Diana Paz
Nathaniel Rios
Mrs. Mandy Baierl (Imagine School)

The festival model -- giving artists creative freedom within certain guidelines—keeps costs manageable while encouraging authentic work. The result was a range of styles and techniques that reflected the breadth of Florida's artistic community.

How the Community Pitched In

Artists stayed in accommodations generously donated by Coconut Casita, Oasis AirBnB, Hotel Ronita, Rosewood Inn, and the Howse family's private residence. Local restaurants fed the artists and offered specials to customers during the festival. Property owners offered their walls. Contributions of any size -- whether a spare bedroom, a meal, or a building facade -- made all this possible.

The six mural boards will find permanent homes throughout Downtown Vero Beach and Edgewood Art Village in the coming weeks, creating a walking trail.

Barbara Ruddy has generously offered to cover UV and anti-graffiti coating to protect the works for years to come, and reminds the community that any gift, no matter how big or small, helps. To support mural fest, click here.

Moore is wasting no time. She's already planning next year's festival, with projects including a mural on one of five massive tanks at the new Wastewater Treatment Facility on US-1 and Aviation, and discussions underway about the new boat barn.

New fundraising dinners are being planned to support these efforts, and property owners interested in participating can reach out to Moore directly.