Mural, Pocket Park mark 40 years Franklin Main Street

FRANKLIN -- A good crowd turned out on a hot June 1 morning to celebrate the Franklin Main Street Program’s 40th anniversary, and to dedicate the mural painted by Lafayette artist Robert Dafford at the Pocket Park located between Main Street and Teche Drive.
Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard spoke about the history of Main Street at the ceremony, as well as the Main Street program. Franklin was one of the first four Main Street programs introduced in Louisiana in 1984.
Former Franklin Mayor Sam Jones, under whose administration the Main Street program in Franklin was introduced, attended the meeting, and he was recognized by Foulcard, along with Oray Rogers, who was a city council member at the time.
Foulcard also talked about past Main Street directors, and gave kudos to the Franklin Merchant’s Association and all the community partners who help Franklin be what it is today.
“But he also talked about how we need to leave Franklin better than we found it for the next 40 years and for the people who come after us,” Franklin Main Street Director Ed “Tiger” Verdin said. “I think he did a great job of driving that home, how Franklin’s bigger than just one group or a few people. It’s bigger than us. It’s for the entire community and what we do today will affect what happens 40 years down the road.”
Dafford was among the people attending the event, and spoke about his process with the mural and what he had envisioned it to be from the beginning of the process.
Verdin spoke about the history of the community, depicted in the mural as Bayou Teche telling the history of the mural with people from various time periods and cultures depicted along the banks of the bayou or on the bayou.
The Main Street celebration and mural dedication also featured Cajun music from Stephen & Aaron, gospel music from the Tri-Parish Gospel Ensemble and music by Barowed Time.
“The mural was dedicated to the entire community, as it’s a cross representation of the entire community,” Verdin said. “(We wanted to) celebrate Main Street as well as the economic development pieces we have throughout the city. The Pocket Park’s one, as well as adding the mural to the Pocket Park. It creates more foot traffic, more tourism, which in a sense creates more economic development and increased tax revenues for the city.”