Clearwater’s downtown had an exciting 2023.

The last year brought downtown a new park (the new and improved Coachman Park), a new music venue (The Sound), and a new Arts & Cultural Affairs Coordinator to the City of Clearwater (Amber Brice). And with all that comes new art and culture events like last Sunday’s inaugural Art in the Park, during which artists painted three new murals live at Coachman.

The day began with a special Art Walk hosted by the Clearwater Arts Alliance. The guided tour took participants through downtown Clearwater to see the city’s best public art projects. The group saw signal boxes wrapped in art, storm drains painted with messages to lessen stormwater pollution, Tony Krol and Michelle Sawyer’s “100 Years Before J. Cole” mural along the Pinellas Trail, multiple Cecilia Lueza murals, steel frescos on the Capitol Theatre, and several sculptures installed in the Cleveland Street District as part of the city’s Sculpture 360 program.

The walk ended in Coachman Park, where about 20 local artists set up tents to display and sell their artwork. Meanwhile, residents mingled with muralists Alyssa Dunlap aka Alyssa Marie, Sonny Sundancer, and Ernesto Maranje as they painted the walls in Coachman Park with butterflies, dolphins, and osprey.

Here’s our insider’s look at Clearwater’s public art scene, from the Pinellas Trail to Cleveland Street to Coachman Park.