A new mural going up on the side of a historic River Street building is a throwback to a vintage Mountain Dew advertising campaign.
The mural was commissioned by the local Pepsi plant, confirmed Dwight Childers, the plant’s general manager.
“We’re doing it locally, and it comes out of the local budget,” said Childers.
Mountain Dew is Pepsi’s best-selling product here, Childers noted. “It’s number one in Ellijay,” he said.
In the mural scene, one-time Mountain Dew mascot Willy the Hillbilly is seen drinking from a jug. The Dew’s caffeinated, citrusy flavor is powerful enough to blast a hole through his hat.
The cartoon graphics date back to when Mountain Dew was still a newfangled beverage. In TV ads, Willy, the soft drink’s mascot for much of the 1960s, was voiced by old-time singer and banjo picker Grandpa Jones. Jones also had success with the song “Mountain Dew,” about an illegal beverage with the same name, moonshine.
“It’ll Tickle Yore (sic) Innards,” the soda’s advertising slogan in the ‘60s, will appear on the mural along with Willy’s catch phrase “Ya-hooo! Mountain Dew!”
“We added ‘Welcome to Ellijay’ (to the design) because a lot of people like to take pictures with these murals when they come to town,” said Childers.
Artist John Christian said this is his 59th mural. Most of the murals Christian, of Hapeville, has been hired to do are either storytelling or historical devices for towns and cities, or promotional pieces for Coke, Pepsi and other products.
Sometimes, he’s hired to restore or expand an existing mural. That’s what Christian did with a Coke mural in downtown Jasper — restoring the faded Coca-Cola logo and adding Sprite Boy, who, like Willy the Hillbilly, is a vintage soda pop mascot.
The retro mural design is something that companies like Coke and Pepsi, as well as the general public, tend to prefer, Christian noted.
“People love nostalgia, and I think they miss those older designs,” he said. “People go to small towns because they miss all the things about a small town, the Norman Rockwell-themed kind of stuff.”
Christian, who’s painted murals in several metro Atlanta cities including Forest Park and Stockbridge, said he really enjoys doing the art projects in small towns.
“If you were to take the art budget for Georgia, Atlanta would get about two-thirds of it. Macon, Savannah and other big cities would get about 20 percent, so that would leave about 10 percent going to the smaller communities. Even Dalton is considered a smaller community,” he said. “Small communities just don’t have the opportunities financially, or they’re just bypassed (as far as art projects go), but I’ve found that the smaller communities are more embracing of these projects.”
Some of Christian’s other nearby murals include a town mural in Blue Ridge and one at the Expedition Bigfoot museum in Cherry Log.
“I’ve done quite a few up that (Highway 515) corridor,” he said.
Childers said the Mountain Dew mural was approved by the Ellijay Historic Preservation Commission. The building at 24 River Street, which many remember as the longtime home of the Ellijay Pool Room, is listed on county records as built in 1909.
The owners of the building in which Emily’s Bar and Restaurant is now located also had input in the design process, Childers said.
“They were so gracious to allow us to do this,” he added. “They really liked this design, and everybody liked this design over anything else we came up with. Not just one person, but everybody liked it.”
Ellijay’s latest mural will be included on the Georgia Mural Trail, Christian confirmed.
The artist developed the mural trail concept to link his work in several Georgia counties. Its purpose is to “design, create, educate and promote community heritage, culture and tourism through public murals,” he noted.
“People can see the murals online. Let’s say they’re coming through Georgia headed to Florida. They might decide to bypass the main freeway to see a couple of murals and have lunch at a local restaurant,” Christian said.
The piece will join a string of murals in downtown Ellijay, including one for Ballard’s Obelisk Flour on the side of Yesterday’s Decor/Hometown Florist, a balloon scene on the side of Artful Ellijay and a Coke mural on North Main Street.
“We wanted to have a retro design to be part of the community along with some of the other designs on the buildings (downtown),” said Childers. “I think it flows (well) with it.”
Childers said this is the first mural for a Pepsi product in Gilmer County, but he hopes more of them can eventually be done in the area covered by the local plant.
Christian, who was well on his way to completing the mural on Tuesday, said he wanted to have it finished sometime this week.