Roy Rogers, Uranium Enrichment, and Strawberry Festival Queens

Floodwalls as art, history, and civic pride

In the summer of 2021, I spent two weeks exploring the small Ohio River towns that don’t get much press—unless it’s for environmental disasters, industry closings, or opioid deaths.

As I updated my social media channels, friends kept commenting that I needed to visit the floodwall murals in this town and that. At first I thought floodwall murals were odd recommendations until I saw them and marveled at what a talented artist can do on a 20-foot vertical slab of concrete.

Touring the floodwalls I’ve learned about inventions, people, flora, and fauna, and I can’t wait to see how my Thursday night trivia scores improve!

Floodwall mural featuring the Portsmouth Cycling Club in Portsmouth, Ohio, taken right before the skies let loose! Artist: Robert Dafford

Civic boosters say that transforming scruffy riverfront floodwalls into artist canvases benefits more than tourism; they also give residents a place to brag about native sons—including Roy Rogers of movie, television, and recording fame. Rogers’ family moved from Cincinnati, where he was born, to a couple of different towns near Portsmouth, Ohio in search of a better life.

Another beauty from Portsmouth, Ohio, by Robert Dafford. Roy Rogers and his palomino horse Trigger.

Uranium enrichment on a mural? Yep, that’s a Paducah story, along with the rise and fall of strawberry farming in western Kentucky. Here’s a delightful and informative article on the rise and decline of strawberry farming featuring an interview with Paducah’s last Strawberry Queen, Amy Grimm (nee Warner). Paducah school kids were excused from school in May and June to help with picking season, reminding me of the boys (yes, specifically boys) in my rural Ohio school district who were excused from school to help bring in the corn and beans circa 1970-80.

The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant was constructed in 1952 and decommissioned in 2013.

Paducah’s first Strawberry Festival was held in 1937 but tobacco farmers had no interest in promoting the city-slicker crop.

In the six states along the Ohio River, one man’s handiwork dominates the bunch: Louisiana-based Robert Dafford. He and his team of artisans painted more than one hundred flood wall murals in Portsmouth and Paducah alone and more than 400 in his career. Dafford also painted the floodwalls in Maysville, Kentucky, which I had skip when a thunderstorm struck. Never fear, I’ll be back to see those murals of Rosemary Clooney and the Underground Railroad in 2023.

Congratulations, Parkersburg

In August, 2022 Parkersburg celebrated the completion of Phase 2 of its Point Park mural project. If my motorcycle hadn’t been swept away in the 1000-year Kentucky flood, I’d have been there to celebrate.

Painted by native son Christopher Santer, whose work really resonates with me, I’m especially pleased to learn that he worked with locals, including students to bring the project to life.

Grant money and fundraising drives often back these floodwall mural projects, and that’s true in Parkersburg. Phase 3 is set for 2023 thanks to first-time financial assistance from the city. The overall plan calls for 20 local historical scenes. So far murals cover 10,000 square feet of the floodwall, plus another mural at the park entrance.

Just for you, Readers

I’ve included lists of the floodwalls I know of along the river. Please let me know what I’ve missed! While you’re in these floodwall towns, show some love to the local cafes and gas stations, too.