What about the garden?

Published 12:19 am Friday, October 3, 2008

I am Peter Teekamp, the artist that painted the former Sunshine Cafe walls downtown. The theme was sunflowers, the owner’s favorite flower. After the mural was finished, the idea of creating a rock garden filled with sunflowers was brought to life by Tracy Hill. Along with friends and hundreds of seeds, rocks and hours of energy, they created the most beautiful rock garden ever! It soon became a showpiece and a treasure for the town.

Tourists stopped and took photos of it all week long. It was a treat for visitors, residents and all the neighbors along the street as well as a haven for butterflies, birds and bees. It helped define and beautify the drive-through side of the cafe and produced a lot of positive energy.

As written in a previous letter to the editor, it is always sad to see a business close, regardless of the reasons, but as an opening for a new business, it seems like such an abrupt attack on the landscape as an introduction. It makes one wonder what they were thinking.

As an artist I can understand that tastes in art can be as different as people are different, and murals can come and go. To whiteout a mural I can understand, but to bulldoze a beautiful energy-filled garden that harmed no one and added so much nature and sweetness to the town seems like such a shame.

Peter Teekamp

North Bend