Many of Midland’s murals are the works of Fred Lenz but this is the largest outdoor mural in North America. Depicting the Huron Native and Jesuit Priest looking out over the Wye Valley and the settlement of Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons it stands at 80 feet high and 250 feet wide.
In the mid1990’s Fred Lenz approached ADM with an idea for a mural on the town elevator. With four spent rolls of toilet paper connected to mimic the elevator, he had drawn his vision of what the mural would look like and used this as his proposal. Commissioned by the Downtown Midland Business Improvement Association and approval from ADM he started his greatest work of art, the pinnacle piece of a lifetime (his words not mine). How do I know, I was the Safety Coordinator and Elevator Supervisor at the time and responsible for his being on the company property.
Some of this story maybe sketchy as it has been twenty years ago, and I may be off a year or two but when Fred started the mural he had the town’s Fire Department hose down the structure. Once it was dried he began mapping out, by hand no projecting an image, the main characters and the Huron Village. He worked from sunrise to well past sunset and to shorten the commute he parked a small camper on the grounds. A great amount of time was spent on the Huron Native's thumb, he felt that it was off, not right and spent countless hours repainting it repeatedly. Using scaffolding attached to the top floor of the elevator he would lower himself into the position needed to paint. One November after a fierce storm, Fred had recounted his frightening story of having the winds whip him and his scaffolding into the elevator wall countless times only having the safety equipment save him. He once told me that the image of the Jesuit priest was painted as a self-portrait, he as a younger man. Sadly, after three years he never did complete the work succumbing to cancer but having his two sons working with him it was they who finished it. It was an amazing feat of art to paint into the roundness of the elevator walls and make the mural appear as a picture, of course the best scene would be from a boat in the middle of the harbour but I'm not asking that of you a photo from the posted coordinates will suffice.
Behind the mural is stored approximately 3 million bushels of wheat, 10 - 12 vessels each year are required to maintain the production of flour, which supplies Southern Ontario bakeries and the store shelves for home use.
Enjoy the scenery
NOTE: The Town of Midland has a "Pay by the Plate" parking system, by using the mobile app (as discribed in The Town of Midland Parking link) you are able to get complementary parking. Also The Town of Midland with safety in mind closes access to the dock during winter months plan your visit accordingly.
Logging Requirements:
- You will need to take a photo at GZ of something unique (a selfie, gps, thumbs up) to prove you were there, this you may post with your log.
E-mail me one of the following answers (do not post them here)
- What is depicted on the far-right side of the mural not part of the village mural?
- At the posted coordinates what rides on top of the structure?
- Safety is paramount while on the dock, how many Life Ring Buoys are available on this dock?
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.