Lake Placid sets the bar high. When you visit you will see why. This small town in Central Florida turned quite a few old walls on brick buildings into living history murals. And people come from all points of the compass to see the murals, spend time and money visiting local shops and doing lunch.

What a concept. Art, culture, commerce, history, nature. Put them all together and sleepy downtowns can wake up, be reborn, even head for a renaissance.

Campbell, executive director of the Columbia County Tourism Development Council, worked his plan. In 2006 he piled officials into vans and headed south to Lake Placid. They loved it. A plan was developed and the plan worked.

Two years go by. The first mural is done and it is fabulous. On Thursday, March 27, 2008 a three-dimensional mural celebrating Ichetucknee Springs was completed with a few final strokes. Artist Keith Goodson stepped up and signed his name to the 86-feet-long mural painted on the side of the Kuykendall Building in downtown Lake City. Goodson worked on the mural for 48 days.

Look at these photos. This mural is drop dead awesome. The springs are so enticing, so crystal clear, you want to dive right in. It gets even better. Columbia County resident and retired County Commissioner James Montgomery donated the $18,000 cost, out of his own money, to have it painted.

Lake City Reporter Publisher Michael Leonard promises to spearhead the effort to raise funds in partnership with the City of Lake City for the next mural. This one will celebrate Lake City’s 150th anniversary coming up next year. In all, five years from now, they’d like some 20 murals downtown. Yep, they have a plan.

Lake City is on a roll and I admire their commitment. I love murals. They are big, bold and brassy. Artists got to play in a huge way on a humongous canvas. Murals celebrate natural and historical Florida. This outdoor art is accessible to all ages. Just walk downtown, no museum admission fee required.

To read more about murals in other Florida places – Palatka, Lake Placid and DeLand, see my mural story on the Visit Florida Web site.

And the next time you headed north on I 75 make a detour to Lake City. Go to Marion Avenue and Northwest Hamilton Street and check out the springs mural. It is a big WOW. Come home inspired. Develop partnerships. Get going. Paint the walls where you live . . .and people who could be your newest best friends will come to your town.