CRISFIELD — The location for the Crisfield Seafood Workers Mural has been settled — and it’s just opposite from where it was first planned.

Instead of the wall of 347 W. Main Street it will be located on the other side of Fourth Street at 413 W. Main attached to the Crisfield Arts Syndicate building.

The last location being considered was in the Crisfield Municipal Park.

The mural is a project of the Greater Crisfield Action Coalition and was completed over a year ago by artist Michael Rosato. It has been in storage since then at his studio in Cambridge.

The plan was for installation to occur in early August 2020 but just days before the weekend of Aug. 8 of that year the building suffered roof damage from fast-moving tropical storm Isaias. The circa 1928 building is now entirely vacant and under contract to be sold to the city for demolition.

Leaders of the mural project, Darlene Taylor and Eric Banks, who both worked in the seafood industry in their youth, were forced to consider alternative locations. The City Council in May supported a proposal to place the mural in the municipal park but the Crisfield Arts Syndicate, a non-profit 501(c)(3), provided a more practical alternative attached to its new "Gallery 413."

The mural is 28 ft. long by 10 ft. tall and will be officially unveiled noon Friday, Nov. 5 during a public event. The next evening at 7 p.m. Gallery 413 will hold its opening reception during a ticketed, formal event hosting sculptor David Turner (tickets available at crisfieldartsyndicate.org).

Artist Michael Rosato is known for his large murals that often employ trompe l’oeil, the illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions, as in the mural by Mr. Rosato of Harriet Tubman in Cambridge, where her hand reaches out to the viewer. Mr. Rosato’s paintings can be seen in venues across the country, including the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Museum in Cape Charles, the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, and the Chesapeake Country Mural Trail in Dorchester County.

Greater Crisfield Action Coalition and the Crisfield Arts & Entertainment District (CAED) Project worked together to secure funding for this project. The mural was supported by grants from the Department of Housing and Community Development ($3,000), the Maryland State Arts Council ($7,065), the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore ($5,065), the Somerset County Arts Council ($2,800) and CAED ($2,000).