The Fraser Mountain Mural Festival has been steadily growing for four years now. This year’s festival began Friday, Aug. 12, with rainy weather, and the participants were given extra time to work on their murals. By 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, artists had to place down their brushes, paint cans and palettes and let the voting begin.

Two artists created a geode, mushroom and lupines masterpiece, after meeting alongside the road in Fraser the weekend of the festival. Mackenzie Foote, out of Kremmling, moved to Grand County in 2012 and this was her first year participating.

Rich Ayers, a traveling muralist based out of Detroit, was commissioned to paint a shed located off of Byers Avenue and Norgren Road. Foote was driving by Ayers and asked if he would be participating in the local mural festival. It was too late in the game for Ayers to sign up, so Foote asked him to join in on her mural.

“We just met, and now are friends for life,” Foote said. They created an collaborative piece. Foote specializes in brushwork, creating large geodes, and Ayers added in his spray paint techniques and mushrooms and lupines.

Art is all about the story that lives behind it. These two had a story to tell.

As for the festival winners? Granby’s Michaela Cross won first place for her second consecutive year. Ramon Truijillo from Arvada took home second place. Arsenio Baca from Monterey, California, placed third. Charly Malpass, from Truckee, California, received the participating artists’ choice award. Alex Eickhoff, from Kansas City, Missouri, took home the commission grand prize. Eickhoff will be around Fraser in the future, creating another piece of commissioned art.

Learn more about the Fraser Mountain Mural Festival at FrasermountainMuralFest.com.