ONANCOCK, Va. — "If you had to write down on a piece of paper what a little town would look like, Onancock would probably be pretty close," said Fletcher Fosque, Mayor of Onancock.
Chartered as a port in 1680, Onancock has charmed its nearly 1200 locals and looked to bring in more visitors by adding a splash of color.
"We had read about other communities doing murals as a way to attract people to the downtown, and we thought that would be something we could do," said Cynthia Holdren, Muralist Chairperson for Onancock Main Street.
After applying for some grants, the town got the money to do not one, but two murals.
They had to find a muralist and hired muralist and owner of Lubaton Murals, Seth Lubaton.
Lubaton is a Virginia Beach native. He actually painted his first mural during the 2019 mural festival in Virginia Beach.
"We wanted to celebrate the environment and pollinators as well as people's flowerpots around town," Holdren said.
"The actual sunset is an actual sunset that someone took from Onancock, so it's modeled after things we've seen in Onancock." Lubaton said. "I want people to see something and feel the best parts of life."
Lubaton says this mural took about 90 hours to finish and probably 10 to 15 gallons of paint. He says he would describe his painting style as vibrant and colorful, but says he really caters to his clients.
"It's really exciting when people are talking about how pleased they are and how much they enjoy seeing them as they drive by," said Holdren.
Fosque says it's been a huge boom to residents as well as tourists because it brings people into town.
And a huge boom for the dogs! As we were doing the interview, a dog came up and greeted us. They obviously became friends while he painted the mural.
"You can't just go out and change the world and make it a better place, you have to do little things that add up to big things," Lubaton said "For me, murals are the things that create a chain of good things."
