Bay City Mural Festival Brings 6 Days of Art, Music and Community Painting
BAY CITY, Mich. — The Bay City Mural Festival will turn several public spaces into working canvases next week as the fourth annual City of Mural Community Festival returns Aug. 11-16 with new murals, public painting sessions, youth art programs and a major community fundraiser.
The festival is organized by United We Go, a Bay City nonprofit that uses public art, youth programs and community events to encourage civic involvement. Organizers say two new murals will be painted at locations around the city during the six-day event, while two more pieces will be added to the Community Friendship Wall.
The largest event of the week will be Paint the Park, scheduled from noon to 10 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13. The event will combine live music, food, public painting and fundraising aimed at helping build additional mural walls in 2027.
Public invited to help paint
Unlike many art festivals where visitors primarily watch finished work, Bay City’s event puts some of the paintbrushes in the hands of the public.
Residents can help paint portions of the Community Friendship Wall, while younger participants can take part in a Youth Mural Workshop. The Friendship Wall was introduced during the 2025 festival as a permanent public art space designed to change as artists add new work over time.
That hands-on approach has become an important part of the festival’s identity.
“This year is about more than murals — it’s about bringing our community together to create something lasting,” organizers said in announcing the 2026 event.
The idea is simple but somewhat unusual for a downtown improvement effort: The finished mural is not always the main event. The act of making it has become part of the attraction.
Paint the Park anchors festival
Paint the Park will include vendors, food trucks and live music along with several art-related programs and fundraisers.
Scheduled activities include a mural project showcase, announcement of future mural locations, youth workshops, a paint-and-sip fundraiser for adults 21 and older, a cornhole tournament with cash prizes, a silent auction, a 50/50 raffle and a morning yoga and breathwork session. The event will also include the nonprofit’s 30 Collection Art Fundraiser.
Money raised will support future mural construction and youth art programming.
United We Go is also seeking volunteers, vendors and sponsors for this year’s festival and is already accepting applications from mural artists interested in participating in 2027.
Bay City Mural Festival rebuilds its identity
The festival began in 2023 as part of an effort to strengthen Bay City’s public art program and revive its association with the nickname “Mural City.”
According to United We Go, the first festival attracted more than 1,000 people and included 10 mural artists working across roughly 1,000 square feet of wall space. The 2024 event expanded to nine artists and about 1,600 square feet of murals.
The 2025 festival grew again, with six artists creating more than 2,000 square feet of murals at Wenonah Park, the Dunlop Building, Bay City Central High School and Legacy Coffee House.
The continued growth shows how public art has become more than decoration in parts of downtown Bay City. Murals are increasingly being used as permanent attractions, redevelopment tools and backdrops for community events.
A short trip from Southeast Michigan
For residents of southeast Michigan, the festival also offers a relatively easy regional day trip.
Visitors can watch artists working on large-scale murals during the week rather than seeing only the completed pieces afterward. The Thursday Paint the Park event offers the broadest mix of activities for visitors making a single trip into Bay City.
Admission to festival activities has been promoted as free, although some individual fundraisers and activities, including the Paint & Sip event, require registration or tickets. Organizers recommend checking current festival information before traveling because individual event locations and schedules may change.
Event at a glance
- What: Fourth annual City of Mural Community Festival
- When: Aug. 11-16, 2026
- Featured event: Paint the Park, noon-10 p.m. Aug. 13
- Where: Locations throughout Bay City
- Organizer: United We Go
- Highlights: New murals, Friendship Wall painting, youth art activities, live music, food vendors and fundraising events
- Cost: General festival activities are promoted as free; some special events require tickets or registration.
The 2026 festival marks the fourth year of an effort that has steadily added more permanent public art to Bay City. For visitors, the unusual part may be that the best time to see the murals is before they are finished — when ladders are still against the walls, paint is still wet and residents are helping decide what the finished city will look like.
