Maine pandemic helpers and heroes get a huge, anonymous thank you card – Bangor Daily News

By Troy R. Bennett, BDN Staff April 30, 2020 1:00 am Updated: April 30, 2020 5:53 am

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PORTLAND, Maine An anonymous, spray-painted mural appeared on a retaining wall beneath the sewage treatment plant on the East End this week. The yards-long image is a thank you card to essential workers still on the job amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

Dedicated to the helpers and the heroes, it simply reads thank you in 6-foot-high letters on a purple background. On the sides of the written words are cartoon depictions of some of those heroes and helpers.

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Troy R. Bennett | BDN

A panoramic picture shows a mural in Portland dedicated to essential workers like grocery store clerks, nurses and sanitation workers.

A bus driver, a nurse, a doctor and sanitation worker can be seen along with an ambulance, grocery store clerk and mother or possibly a teacher with two children.

The artwork is not signed.

Troy R. Bennett | BDN

A mural thanking essential workers adorns a retaining wall below Portland's sewage processing plant on the East End on Tuesday.

The 100-foot wall is a city-sanctioned surface for spray-can graffiti artists. In 2016 it bore a controversial depiction of then Gov. Paul LePage in Ku Klux Klan regalia. The city refused to remove it citing the First Amendment, but it sparked a controversy over the wall that spilled into 2017. Ultimately the city and the Portland Water District, which operates the sewage treatment plant, decided to keep the wall open to artists.

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Maine pandemic helpers and heroes get a huge, anonymous thank you card - Bangor Daily News