The Stanislaus River now runs right through the heart of Oakdale, depicted in a mural covering the entire side wall of the Bordona Furniture Store at Lottie Street and North First Avenue.
Adjacent to the larger Bordona’s store on F Street, the mural was painted by local artist Lindsey Wetenkamp over the past few weeks and officially dedicated on Friday afternoon, March 27. The gathering began at 4 p.m., with the ribbon cutting at 4:30 p.m.
A project of OakdaleArts, organization President Nancy Podolsky was first at the microphone on Friday afternoon She introduced the other members of the group that were on hand for the ceremony, including Vice President Rhonda Darling-McDonald, Secretary Sheryl Mack and Assistant Treasurer Lindy Giovannoni. Treasurer Cheryl Dillwood was unable to attend.
“Today, we’re happy to show you our seventh mural that we’ve painted here in Oakdale,” Podolsky told the crowd. “We haven’t particularly painted them ourselves; we’ve curated different artists to come and paint these and none of the murals in town received any public funding, we’ve done the fundraising for all of them, and the fundraising has come from generous businesses in town, generous community members … all of them have been funded that way.”
Thanks were given to the Bordona family, which agreed to have the mural painted on the store, as well as for helping kickstart the funding for the project.
“I was a little bit of a hard sell on this, to say the least,” Ron Bordona admitted of originally being hesitant to offer the wall. “After seeing the amazing project on the Bistro (120) though, we knew sooner or later I’d cave in and I’d say yes.”
He said ultimately, it was his parent’s wishes – Bob and Phyllis Bordona – to have the mural painted on the store.
“My dad particularly loves the river,” Bordona explained of embracing the Stanislaus River theme for the mural. “Salmon run every year; I got to listen to all the stories about the salmon, and my son got to listen to it … anybody that wants to hear, he’ll bend your ear off on the salmon run, he absolutely loves it.”
Bordona also gave a nod of thanks to artist Wetenkamp, who depicted a kayaker in the mural at the family’s request.
It was important to the Bordona family for it to be a local scene and the Stanislaus River fit the bill.
“I also wanted a local artist so we’re very proud that Lindsey’s not only local but from Oakdale,” Bordona said.
For her part, Wetenkamp said she was honored and grateful to be able to produce such a large piece of artwork in Oakdale.
“I grew up enjoying the Stanislaus River as a child and then we moved to Oakdale about 25 years ago and we continue to enjoy it with our own kids,” Wetenkamp explained. “So it was kind of meaningful to me and I just really appreciated how so many people in the community stopped just to say such wonderful kind words to me as I was painting and complimented the work and the colors.”
Special proclamations were presented as part of the celebration, including one from Stanislaus County District 1 Supervisor Buck Condit, with Wetenkamp given the honor of cutting the ribbon to officially dedicate the new mural.
Wetenkamp will be the featured artist at the first Oakdale Morning Market on Saturday, May 2.
Podolsky also said OakdaleArts has its eighth mural lined up, scheduled to be painted on the side of the Story Books and Toys building at 150 S. Second Ave., which will be visible from the nearby Bianchi Community Center.
