‘Color Me Cruces’ mural unveiled in downtown Las Cruces

Downtown Las Cruces just got a little more colorful.

The 16-by-20 feet mural is modeled after a postcard that reads “Greetings From Downtown Las Cruces.”

It’s located on the North-facing wall of Insta-Copy off of Main Street.

“It has the old-fashioned post card feel, and I think that’s what the whole group wanted to have,” said Carrie Hamblen, CEO of the Las Cruces Green Chamber of Commerce.

The group responsible for the mural includes the Downtown Las Cruces Partnership, the Green Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

“We want to make sure we highlight all of the things that are incredible about our city,” Hamblen said. “I think in this age of social media, and folks wanting to have great pictures on their social media — Instagram, and Facebook, and Snapchat — that this is a really great opportunity,” Hamblen said.

Artists Anahy Nunez, Aaron Valenzuela and Christina Ballew started working on the mural in December.

“We wanted to bring the most recognizable elements of Las Cruces to the mural,” artist Anahy Nunez said. “It’s really rewarding honestly.”

Nunez said it took her, Valenzuela, Ballew and a group of youth volunteers with the parks and recreation department about 50 hours to complete.

“We started with a projection of it on acrylic paint, we did some aerosol at the top. We worked through the coldest week that December had. It was snowing one day,” Nunez said.

Those who take pictures with the mural are encouraged to use #ColorMeCruces if they upload pictures onto social media.