Magical Musical Christmas Murals Dazzle and Delight

Looking for a festive activity to entertain the kids or holidays guests? Try visiting downtown Grants Pass where a series of banquet-table-sized fiber optic murals create an old-fashioned Christmas with a technological twist.

Starting the second week of November and running through the first of the new year, the downtown area will radiate with the fiberoptic dazzle of 18 gigantic Magical Musical Christmas Murals. The oversized murals weigh 400 pounds each and include automatic sound systems to play the old-fashioned Christmas music emanating from them. The murals are 12 inches thick, ten feet tall, five feet wide, and wired with miles of fiber optic cable and thousands of points of lights.

And what lights! They flow and blink so that snow falls and accumulates, bells ring back and forth, gifts collect under the tree, and aurora borealis shimmers in the night sky. Each mural takes 20 to 30 seconds to tell its "story". They were manufactured by Fiberoptic Lighting, Inc., of Grants Pass, and cost an average of $12,000 each.

The idea, of course, is to attract folks from near and far to downtown Grants Pass to "oh and ah" at the fantastic display. While they're in town, visitors might as well browse antique and specialty shops, listen to music, tour the art galleries, have a great cup of coffee, sip wine, or enjoy a restaurant meal.

For added oomph, plan to visit Grants Pass on Friday, December 5th, for the First Friday Art Night, one of the oldest and most popular art walk events in the state. Downtown Grants Pass is a magnet for a proud and passionate art community whose eclectic works provide gift shopping options, as do numerous downtown specialty and antique shops.

For more information about the murals, please call 476-7717.