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Tonight a giant mural depicting US presidential candidate Joe Biden was unveiled in Ballina, Co Mayo.
The painting, which measures 5m x 3.5m, was completed by local artists Smiler Mitchell and Leslie Lackey in recent days.
Mr. Biden has ties to Co Mayo and has visited the area on several occasions in recent years.
He traveled to May in 2016, in his capacity as Vice President of the United States. In 2017, he turned the lawn back into a new hospice building on the outskirts of Castlebar.
A giant mural depicting US presidential candidate Joe Biden will be unveiled in Ballina, Co Mayo, tonight. Mr. Biden has ties to the area and has visited it on several occasions in recent years. | Read more: https://t.co/xhWk3oKsry pic.twitter.com/mHtEmD1G52
– RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 4, 2020
The Democratic candidate for the White House was due to return last year for the hospice’s official inauguration, but was unable to travel due to commitments related to his presidential campaign.
However, he did send a video message to the assembled guests, regretting their absence and promising to return to the West of Ireland as soon as possible.
Biden’s great-great-grandfather, Edward Blewitt, immigrated to the United States from Ballina more than 160 years ago.
The mural has been erected in Market Square, near the old Blewitt Farm on Garden Street.
Independent councilor Mark Duffy, who was involved in the initiative, said he hoped Biden would be able to return to Ballina as president of the United States next year to see the painting.
A storyboard has been erected alongside the mural detailing Biden’s link to the area.
It is the latest in a series of art installations in Ballina, intended to mark the impact that people with connections to the area have had nationally and internationally.
Earlier this year, a depiction of former Ireland football coach Jack Charlton was featured near his favorite fishing spot on the River Moy.
Charlton regularly fished the river and bought a home in the city in the early 1990s.
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