9am clean up

11:00am mural dedication

All attendees should enter the dry dock facility from Old Lyons Road and follow
the signs for parking.

Mural Mania will be dedicating two murals, the “Poorhouse Lock 56″ and “Honoring those who
worked on the Erie/Barge Canal” in Lyons, New York, on Saturday, April 23, at 11 a.m., in
celebration of the 17th annual Canal Clean Sweep hosted on Earth Day weekend.
Mural Mania will be dedicating two iconic murals that span two historic eras of the Erie Canal.
We will be honoring those that built and maintain the Erie Canal. These murals located along the
Empire State Trail at the Lyons Dry Dock give a viewer a glimpse back in time to honor those who
built, maintained, and transported on the Erie Canal.
The first mural Honoring those who worked on the Erie/Barge Canal was completed in April of
2021 and features the Dipper Dredge No.3, the tugboat DeWitt Clinton and a barge used for the
canal spill. Dipper Dredge No. 3 is in the Lyons Dry Dock but has not been operated since 1985.
It was built in 1929 but has some “recycled” components from 1909. As a steam powered vessel,
it is unlikely that Dipper Dredge No. 3 will ever return to functioning condition. Across the top of
the mural are the words “Honoring those who worked on the Erie/Barge Canal.” We used a sepia
background overlayed with color to bring the focus to the workers.
The second mural, completed in November 2021, depicts old Erie Canal Lock 56, often referred
to as the Poor House Lock because of its proximity to the former Wayne County Poorhouse. Also
depicted in this mural is the Poorhouse Grocery store. A store on the Erie Canal where boaters
bought goods as they traveled back and forth. This mural pays tribute to those that were
instrumental in the success of the Erie Canal these include father and son Canal engineers, Jacob
Leach and Augustus M. Leach of Lyons, portrayed chatting on the bulkhead of Lock 56. The mural
also honors two boyhood friends Richard Garrity and Glen Salisbury who were hoagies on the
Erie Canal. Richard Garrity wrote the book Canal Boatman. In 1990 these two friends were united
after 70 years and shared their stories of traveling through this lock and on their way to NYC. In
special tribute to Allyn Perry who has lived in the Poorhouse grocery store all her life, we painted
the Allyn Perry boat going through the lock carrying local Hotchkiss peppermint oil going west.