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Artists Work To Replace Lost Mural

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 16, 2008

PLANT CITY - Growing up in Plant City, James and Blake Emory were surrounded by walls that doubled as art.

There were the many Western-themed murals painted by James "Lone Star" Camp, the would-be cowboy who has left his mark on numerous buildings around town.

Then there are the hunting and fishing scenes that leap off the side of Bailey's Outdoor Products store on the fringes of the downtown historical district. Those were created by local sign painter John Dispennette.

It is fitting that the brothers who grew up among the urban art of Plant City would come to fill the void left by the recent destruction of another prominent mural - John Briggs' celebrated "Reflection of a Town."

"It obviously left a large visual gap in the heart of downtown," said James Emory, who, with younger brother Blake, is crafting another tribute to the people of Plant City on the back wall of Espress Yourself Coffee 101 and Focus magazine, not far from where the Briggs mural once stood at Collins Street and Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Boulevard.

The demolition of the Briggs mural Feb. 8 to make way for a parking lot took many people in Plant City by surprise.

The wall containing the mural was all that survived after a 2005 fire destroyed nearly a block of the downtown historical district.

Jan Hollingsworth

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