When Paul Deacon recently called up a local businessperson offering to clean the tagging from her building, she asked how much it was going to cost her. Deacon said it took a few tries to explain the exterior wall would be cleared of tagging for free as part of the second Around Town Wash Down.
“I had to put the phone down to wipe a tear out of my eye because she was so grateful," said Deacon. "She had owned the business 15 years and she was very upset at what had happened to the building, but couldn’t afford to fix it.”
That building is one of about a dozen sites volunteers will tackle with paint brushes and power washers on June 22.
The inaugural Around Town Wash Down was organized as a sort of experiment in 2016 by Deacon, supported by Dulux Paints’ Colourful Communities program to paint over graffiti and tagging on private property in Guelph.
“They supply all of the paint and the rollers and all of the equipment for free. It’s their way of giving back to the community as well,” said Deacon of the Dulux program. He hopes to make the project an annual one with the help of Dulux.
Deacon found out about the Colourful Communities program by chance when visiting one of the local stores. He had been looking for a way to give back to Guelph and had participated in similar community beautification projects in his home country of England.
“There was a bunch of us in the community and we would go out there and litter pick or paint houses,” said Deacon of his time in England. He moved to Guelph in 2010.
Deacon said most of the properties painted in the 2016 Around Town Wash Down are still graffiti free two years later.
About 20 volunteers are expected to participate in the event on Friday, which include Deacon’s team and volunteering Dulux staff. More information about the event can be found on its Facebook page.
Deacon said graffiti has a bad name and noted that he is a fan of some of the more artistic pieces. It’s the tagging, especially with profanity, that Deacon said his team is concentrating on removing.
“Our jobs is to get rid of the bits and pieces people don’t want and that they can’t afford to get rid of,” he said. “I have approached people and some have said they are not bothered (by the tagging). If someone has identified they are upset by it, we do something.”
New this year is a power washer that is particularly effective against tags on brick walls and Around Town Wash Down has partnered with a local muralist who will be available to create works for a nominal fee.
“A lot of graffiti I think is great. A lot of it is artistic and there are murals up on various walls across the city,” said Deacon.
With the help of Dulux, the team is able to match paint to the wall colour so cover ups match, avoiding the unsightly rectangles of wrong-coloured paint you sometimes see when graffiti and tags are covered up.
“We do a professional job,” said Deacon.
