TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The city of Tucson is celebrating over 250 years of the Old Pueblo.
August 23 marks 250 years since the founding of Presidio San Augustin Del Tucson, but Rio Nuevo kicked the celebration off about a month early, partnering with the city, county and multiple cultural and historical museums to unveil four new murals downtown.
The works are designed and created by Tucson locals Pen Macias, Ignacio Garcia, Joe Pagac and Camilia Ibarra. Each one celebrates the cultural and linguistic history of the city covering everything from modern downtown— Macias's work included Pagac's recent cactus mural— to hundreds of years ago.
Hundreds of Tucsonans met at HighWire Downtown for the official event. Rio Nuevo board member Jannie Cox says they received 460 RSVPs.
Cox says she took the lead on this project, finding the four artists and using a little over $100,000 from Rio Nuevo's specific mural budget to fund it.
If you want to take a walking tour of your own, the Celebrate Tucson 250+ murals are at
- S Church Ave. and S Stone Ave.
- E Congress St. and S Arizona Ave.
- W Congress St. N Church Ave.
- E Pennington St. and N Scott Ave.
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Alex Dowd is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9, where her work combines her two favorite hobbies: talking to new people and learning about the community around her. Her goal is to eventually meet every single person in Tucson. Share your story ideas with Alex via email, alex.dowd@kgun9.com, or connecting on Instagram or X.
