The bluff stairs in downtown St. Joseph are now looking a lot brighter since the latest stair mural has been completed.

Since 2018, St. Joseph Today has brought in artists from all over the region to paint murals on the staircase with past designs invoking images of a sunset on the water and monarch butterflies. St. Joe Today’s Daniele Crevier tells us this year’s mural is just as colorful as last year’s.

“We worked with St. Joseph, Michigan-based artist Kim Wood again this year,” Crevier said. “She did our mural last year. For our latest install, it is a really beautiful showcase of waves, a beautiful sunset, and then like a paddle board.”

Wood started work on the mural last Thursday, and working alone, it took her about two and a half days to finish. The new mural was finished Sunday. Crevier says this one has an interactive component.

“Towards the bottom of the stairs, there’s a really fun paddleboard, and you can stand right on the paddleboard and take a really fun picture so it looks like you’re surfing the waves at sunset.”

Wood painted two feet on one of the steps to show people the perfect place to stand to create that illusion.

Crevier says public art has long been valued in St. Joseph, and the stair murals have proven to be popular with residents and visitors alike.