The person in the hat, a mural in Beacon at 314 Main Street. Days or weeks prior to this photo, the artist had installed a mask on the face. The mask is gone now. Below, find people’s photos of when the mask was up, taken in homage to helping Beaconties stay safe. Today, COVID-19 case counts are down, and vaccination rates are up. Hopefully they stay that way.

Back in 2015, which is 7 years ago, A Little Beacon Blog ran a contest for people to identify where a tiny corner of a photo was around town. It was called the “Where Is This?” Contest. It was a favorite activity for our readers, and it’s time to bring it back! At the time, a tiny snapshot of this photo was the clue, and a Beaconite named Michelle Rivas, who is currently a librarian at the Beacon Public Library, identified it first.

Since then, the mural of the person in the bowler hat at 314 Main Street (intersection of N. Chestnut) has become iconic. Not for it’s photogenic draw as a selfie-stopper for anyone visiting Beacon to get their photo taken in front of this mural, but for what was added to the mural: the mask. After COVID-19 was declared, and face coverings were mandated for public spaces, the artist installed a powder blue lattice mask on this face, trimmed in sunflowers. The move was made during a time of growing frustration with having to wear a mask as a safety measure to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

And just like that…the mask has been discarded. Sunflowers from the mask installation on the person in the hat mural on the building at 314 Main Street and N. Chestnut Street.

Little by little, more and more selfies emerged on Instagram of people with the masked version of the mural. By the end of February 2022, face mask mandates started coming down. While walking on Main Street one morning, the trimming of sunflowers was spotted sitting by trash cans. No one knew what that meant in that moment, but the entire lattice-based installation of the mask was also gone. A sign? A statement from the artist that they too are removing their mask policy, as restaurants and schools are, now that they are given the choice instead of being mandated by federal or local government? Local shops, eateries and gyms are all reviewing their policies, emailing their customers, and moving forward into what hopes to be a safe situation for what was once normal.

More importantly, now that COIVID-19 case counts have plummeted, vaccination rates are increasing (still room to increase! Kids need their doses, and everyone needs their boosters (talk to your doctor for your own needs if you have concerns).

A Little Beacon Blog has asked the world (jk, the community of residents and visitors to Beacon) to send in their selfies with the masked version of this mural. Or not the selfies - the scene could look different on different days. We will provide photo credit to each photo submitted and published. Email yours to editorial@alittlebeaconblog.com.

And this doesn’t means it’s over. The mask might come back. Get vaccinated! People can wear a mask if they are comfortable doing so.

Beacon Trivia: The stores currently in this building are Last Outpost Store (a great boutique with mens and womens apparel, home collectibles and house-designed jewelry) and Yanarella (a great inclusive dance studio for kids and adults). Prior to Last Outpost Store was The Dance Bag. Memories!

*Photo Credit: Maureen, taken September 2021*

*Photo Credit: Anvin Alexander* *@anvinalexander*

*Photo Credit: Ginny Moore “Hope this helps!”*

Photo Credit: Megan Meister: “Summer 2020 while enjoying a wonderful weekend in Beacon.
Love your blog by the way!”

Many people in Beacon double as something else. The owner of Beacon Bread Company, Kamel Jamal, happens to be an extremely creative person, both visually and with phrases. He not only doubles the number of restaurants he creates, but enables others to share their talent as well.

It was no surprise when he commissioned one of his Beacon Bread staff, Shannon J. Ramos, to cover the side of the building he leases with an inviting and celebratory “Greetings From Beacon!” mural. Shannon is a muralist and tattoo artist from Poughkeepsie, who developed this design with her boyfriend and fellow artist, Sean who is from Wappingers Falls.

“We met through art,” said Sean. “She’d go to my art shows, and I’d go to her art shows. I love her art. I was in a grumpy mood this morning, but this changed me today. Being able to paint with her is so much fun.”

After 2 months of working for Beacon Bread as a server, Shannon and Sean began researching the design, and after looking at tons of postcards, went with this rainbow connection that “brings happiness,” Shannon said. Painting on the brick wasn’t so much of a challenge, she felt. Shannon used house paint for the hand/detail work, and Sean’s medium is spray painting.

“Murals are a lot of work” Shannon explained. “So it’s fun to have someone to balance off and bring different aspects of art to it. He’s good at spray paint. I’m good at hand-paint. It’s fun to play off each other.” Sean points out that they enjoy the interactive process of having passer-byers walk past to watch them paint. The flowers were left un-colored so that BEACON could stand out. The entire mural took about one day to complete.

Shannon is a full time restaurant server and artist. She has remained at Beacon Bread after starting there in the Spring of 2021, and was surprised to experience the creatively supportive vibe she got from the management. “I got the job, and then…you know…you want to be as available as possible for hours, but then I could only work certain days, and they were totally cool with that and wanted to make it work. It’s cool about them, as they are cool about flexible schedules, and having me do this mural and highlighting what I like to do.”

Follow Shannon at her Instagram.