There’s a new mural in town.

The latest mural in the city of Marquette is on the side of the Trenary Toast building at the corner of Washington and Third streets. Led by local muralist Hannah Milkie and assisted by young artists, the new piece of art is quintessential Marquette and the Upper Peninsula in general: It depicts the iconic Marquette Lighthouse, a common loon and the Kaye E. Barker, an ore boat that frequently visits the Upper Harbor.

It joins other murals in town, such as the Evolve mural along Baraga Avenue, the Power of Words Project “Natural” mural at the corner of Third and Ohio streets, the Piet Mondrian-inspired mural along Third Street and the lake scene-focused mural that adorns the EZ Stop North store at the corner of Wright Street and Sugar Loaf Avenue.

Well-painted public and private buildings are needed to maintain a tidy appearance in a town, but murals go way beyond that.

Obviously, they are huge works of art that take no small amount of talent to create. A lot of planning has to take place before the first brush stroke is made, with the artists deciding what they want for the finished product — and then who knows what obstacles occur along the way, such as weather and time constraints?

At the March 30 State of the Arts forum at the Ore Dock Brewing Co., city of Marquette Arts and Culture Manager Tiina Morin, told the audience, “Remember that this is the beginning conversation to decide, to begin talking about, what our goals and dreams are for Marquette.”

With the addition of a new mural, we believe that the city is primed — paint-wise and figuratively speaking — to create a more vibrant arts scene that is unique to the city.

We also believe that people will find the city more interesting to travel through when they have great art to look at as they pass by a building.

Thus, we hope more murals, and other works such as sculptures, are to come. Undoubtedly, they will help make Marquette more memorable than it already us to many people.