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56 °F 5 Day Forecast Tuesday, December 23, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend December 7, 2003 Eighteen fiber-optic, musical Christmas murals adorn downtown Grants Pass this season, thanks to Brady Adams and Evergreen Federal Bank. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Christmas past gets a dose of technology By SANNE SPECHT Mail Tribune GRANTS PASS — There’s something new to view in town. Eighteen "Magical Musical Christmas Murals" are delighting locals and visitors alike with their fiber-optic renditions of old-time Christmas cards. The 10-by-5-foot, 400-pound murals are clustered along Sixth and Seventh streets and on G and H streets in downtown Grants Pass. Each mural cost $14,000 to build and install. The more elaborate murals, such as Winter Wonderland, are powered by eight 50-watt halogen bulbs and contain 13,188 individual fibers within about 12.5 miles of fiber strands. The murals are operating and attractive during daylight hours. But as the night sky darkens, they come alive with song and light. The images take about 30 seconds to fully display so there is an anticipatory buildup for the viewer. Advertisement In one mural, as the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" plays, each day’s gift is alternately depicted in a single pane of glass in an elaborate snowy window display, while a cat plays with a ball of yarn underneath. "I like the change where it’s not just a still picture," said Dennis Nunn of Grants Pass. The attraction seems a particular draw for parents with small children. Groups of parents with toddlers in tow stroll up and down the sidewalks. One child-themed mural plays and displays a young boy singing "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" — complete with lisp. Four-year-old Alexis Miller bounces up and down in her purple tennis shoes, giggling with delight and pressing her head against the mural to better hear the song. "Look at the star!" she squeals, as the mural unfolds. "It’s twinkling!" Her mother, Nancy Miller of Eagle Point, said she brought Alexis to Grants Pass just to see the murals. "They’re very beautiful. I thought they were just going to be window decorations. This is amazing," she said. One mural was refusing to play its song, but onlookers seemed to take this small techno-glitch in stride. "This one must be ‘Silent Night,’" joked Paul Gilbertson of Wimer. This is the second project intended to boost community pride, benefit local nonprofit organizations and support the local economy by Brady Adams, president and chief executive officer of Evergreen Federal Bank. Adams is the man who brought 19 larger-than-life-sized, fantastically decorated Fiberglas bears on the streets of Grants Pass during this summer’s "Bearfest" — and brought in $178,000 for local nonprofit groups once the bears went to auction at the end of their summer display. Evergreen Federal is again sponsoring the community project at a cost of $200,000. Adams says he’d rather promote the community as a whole than his bank in particular. Other businesses helped fund the installation costs. Adams said he got the idea for his new public art display when he saw a bear that Fiberoptic Lighting, Inc. had done. "I asked them to create the cards so we could have an art experience that would be fun for young and old," said Adams. Artist Steve Martin designed the murals, completing the project in just three months. He said the task was challenging but enjoyable for the company. "We had a lot of fun doing them, " he said. "The best part for us is to listen to everybody comment (on the murals)." The Towne Center Trolley will be offering tours, beginning at the Evergreen Federal Bank at the corner of Sixth and Voorhies. The trolley makes four stops on the approximate one-mile loop. The trolley will operate from 4 to 8 p.m. Fridays, 3 to 7 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays through December. The murals will be on display every holiday season indefinitely, with new murals already being planned for Christmas 2004. And the bears will be back in force next summer, this time with cubs. Reach reporter Sanne Specht at 776-4497 or e-mail [email protected] . 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