Eric Dowdle’s new South Jordan mural is one piece in an important American puzzle

SOUTH JORDAN — A crowd of avid puzzlers and South Jordanites gathered in a nook of Heritage Park on Friday afternoon, waving miniature American flags and ready for artist Eric Dowdle to drop the curtain on his newest mission.

A small battalion of American People Ensemble dancers squatted on the prepared with confetti poppers, and the gang began counting down for the large reveal.

When the curtain fell, some have been shocked to see themselves in Dowdle’s puzzle mural — a “The place’s Waldo”-esque tribute to South Jordan.

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“Eric married the historical past of South Jordan and what we’re in the present day into one piece,” Mayor Daybreak Ramsey mentioned.

Dowdle, a puzzlemaker and folks artist primarily based in Lindon, has been portray cities the world over for greater than 30 years. He has hosted TV and radio packages about his work and bought tens of millions of puzzles.

His philosophy is that every piece in a puzzle — and every individual in a group — issues. If you take a look at considered one of his work, it exhibits.

Dowdle work are filled with Easter eggs. Doing considered one of his puzzles requires two ranges of decoding — one to place the items collectively and one to determine what the items imply.

In his South Jordan mural, you may see Fireplace Chief Chris Dawson driving a firetruck and Metropolis Supervisor Dustin Lewis “rucking” alongside the riverbed. Metropolis Councilman Jason McGuire sits on a plastic frog at South Jordan’s all-abilities park. Mabel Holt Nelson, recognized to the group as “Aunt Mame,” rocks on her porch with a bucket of popcorn.

The mural additionally captures a number of the metropolis’s historical past, depicting iconic components just like the SoJo Summerfest, the snow plow within the metropolis parade and the 1938 bus accident that spurred adjustments in nationwide bus legal guidelines.

And within the large portray, there’s room for a bit of silliness. Dowdle included Jesus consuming a slice of pizza and the pair of farmers from “American Gothic” as an homage to the town’s agricultural roots.

When Dowdle fan Donna Terry moved to South Jordan 25 years in the past, she considered it as a small farming group. She’s seen the town evolve since then, and he or she thinks Dowdle’s portray captures that evolution.

“I used to be impressed that he obtained all three temples in there,” Terry mentioned. The portray is anchored by the Jordan River and Oquirrh Mountain temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint and the Sri Ganesha Hindu temple.

Terry deliberate to purchase the South Jordan puzzle, which is offered for buy at South Jordan Metropolis Corridor, Fireplace Station 64 and Mulligans Golf and Video games.

The South Jordan mural and puzzle aren’t a one-off factor — they’re a part of a nationwide mission Dowdle is endeavor forward of America’s 250th birthday in 2026. He is aiming to color a minimum of two metropolis murals in every of the 50 states to have fun.

Giving the nation a correct party is not only a good concept, it is one thing Individuals really want, he mentioned.

Dowdle first reached out to Congress about his proposed 250th anniversary mission in 2011, however they hadn’t began discussing anniversary plans but. In 2016, Congress invited the nation to submit concepts for the anniversary — Dowdle was the one individual in the whole nation who did.

“Lots of people need to concentrate on the unfavorable, nevertheless it’s a party,” Dowdle mentioned.

As a substitute of dwelling on previous errors, Dowdle desires individuals to see optimistic adjustments from the nation’s final 250 years. As Individuals, “we sort things,” he mentioned. This transformation in angle begins on a group degree.

Some Individuals won’t suppose their group may be very particular — “We’re only a drive-through city” — however Dowdle desires to show them fallacious.

As he pointed at every individual in his latest mural, he instructed their story after which turned to the gang to cheer, “That is what makes South Jordan … Wonderful!”