When the call first came in, it was a simple request for a 60-foot Articulating Boom Lift.

The city of Winston-Salem in North Carolina — known as the city of arts and innovation — had commissioned a massive mural to cover the side of a city/county utility water tank. Just how massive? The mural, depicting a giant American river otter, was slated to be 50 feet tall and 270 feet wide — the length of six school buses parked end to end. The artist, selected out of nearly 50 who applied for the opportunity, needed a way to paint at scale.

See the time-lapse video here. 

But during that call, the conversation shifted to community impact. The city wanted to showcase the process of bringing the mural to life and engage the public in a big way. We told them we wanted to help.

That’s where our custom solution began to take shape.

In-depth discussions with the city about the timeframe, project, and objectives led us to our big idea:  We proposed mounting our Mobile Surveillance Camera across from the tank to capture time-lapse videos of the mural as it was painted. Each day, the city could post the latest time-lapse video across its social media platforms and website so residents could follow the project each step of the way.

The city loved the idea, and we got to work. We installed our Duradeck ground protection mats, delivered the boom lift, and installed the camera. Once the painting began, our camera churned out a time-lapse video every day for a month, which the city shared far and wide online.

Over the course of that month, thousands of residents engaged with those videos, sharing them with friends and followers and expressing their excitement with comments like this one: “So beautiful. What a great gift to all who drive by. Thank you!!!”

It was just the kind of community buy-in the city of Winston-Salem was looking for. The city estimates the mural will be seen by roughly 25,000 drivers a day. It could also set the tone for a future city park. So, getting the community excited about the mural as it came together was vital.

For our team, it marked an opportunity to deliver a unique solution for what has already become a beloved community project — and make it as easy as possible for everyone involved, said Sunbelt Rentals District Sales Manager Cullen Cameron.

“We asked what the customer was looking for, regardless of how ‘out of the box’ it was, and we made it happen — even if it meant doing something we had never done,” Cameron said. “And we did exactly what we said we would.”