Jersey City Mural Fest Will Create Walk-Through Open Air Gallery

JERSEY CITY, NJ — A new kind of festival is bringing Jersey City artists to the streets and making the city their canvas.

The first-ever Jersey City Mural Fest is planned for June 5 and 6. The festival will take place across three main locations, including parts of Journal Square and Hamilton Park. It will incorporate more than 50 walls and 300,000 square feet of wall space.

With 22 artists on the roster, the open-air festival will also include pop-up beer gardens, restaurants and food trucks for patrons to stop at while perusing the street art. Check out the list of vendors that will be set up in the festival area:

• Ghost Hawk Brewing
• 902 Brewing Company
• Aroy the Thai Elephant
• Dark Side of the Moo
• Smoke Odyssey
• Jerkin Chicken
• The Grind Coffee Shop
• Ani Ramen
• Stack Creamery
• Modcup
• El Chilango

The two-day festival will run from 12-8 p.m. on June 5 and from 12-7 p.m. on June 6.

Along with delicious local food to snack on, the festival will have a DJ and live music, merchandise pop-ups and family and community events for kids, according to the festival website. The festival is hosted by Mana Public Arts — a contemporary art program devoted to large-scale, site-specific installations by renowned artists from around the world — alongside the city's mural arts program and the Jersey City Office of Cultural Affairs.

The Jersey City Mural Arts program has been in practice for seven years and established 153 murals across the city. So far, 96 artists have participated in the program. A virtual map of the murals throughout Jersey City can be found online as well as information on each artist and piece.

The Jersey City Municipal Council recently unanimously approved the adoption of an Arts and Culture Trust Fund Committee. The Arts and Culture Trust Fund will help support programs like the mural initiative that brought the "Freedom" mural to McGinley Square and countless other murals across the city.

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