51ºÚÁÏ

ST. LOUIS — Paint Louis, the annual festival of graffiti art, is recruiting volunteers to clean up any paint left behind on off-limits buildings, after a perceived surge in vandalism in September, coinciding with the event, had festival organizers on the defensive last year.

The city-sanctioned Paint Louis event is a three-day graffiti and music festival that began here in 1997 and coincides with Labor Day weekend. Graffiti artists from around the world enliven the 2-mile stretch of the flood wall south of the Gateway Arch, along the Mississippi River.

Event organizers warn artists to paint only the flood wall. But the city said spray-painters were rampant elsewhere last year, prompting increased patrols and other measures to head off damage this year.

Vandals blocks from the flood wall ruined the mural outside the StilL 630 distillery on South Fourth Street downtown, and owner David Weglarz, spent $4,000 to replace it. Taggers also damaged Faring Purth’s mural “Prime� on the south side of the Nebula Building on South Jefferson Avenue, near Cherokee. Both murals have since been restored.

Paint Louis organizers say their event has been unfairly blamed for the damage.

Last week, a page called Paint Louis Paint Removal & Cover Up circulated on Facebook, trying to drum up volunteers to remove and cover “paint that was used to deface businesses and properties.�

Paint Louis asked volunteers to meet Monday morning at the flood wall, 1000 South Wharf Street. Paint Louis also warned participants that police will be using “Sky Cops,� portable cameras, and patrolling every night during the festival and arresting anyone caught painting outside of the festival.

“Respect the neighborhoods,� the group implored. “Help Paint Louis continue.�

Rasmus S. Jorgensen, deputy director of communications for Mayor Cara Spencer, said there have been “extensive planning sessions this year, focusing on both preventing issues and effectively addressing any potential concerns after the event.�

Jorgensen said Paint Louis took steps that included notifying artists to paint only at the publicly approved wall; meeting with police and Community Improvement Districts; and hosting the cleanup event on Monday.

Businesses and residents concerned about new graffiti that pops up at places other than the flood wall over the weekend can send a message to paintlouisinfo@gmail.com, Jorgensen said.

Paint Louis bills itself as the “world’s largest graffiti jam� and expects more than 350 graffiti artists from around the world to participate. Organizers will meet with community groups to hear what issues they have once this year’s festival is over, Jorgensen said.

A Paint Louis founder and organizer, John Harrington, said after complaints last year that he felt his group was being “villainized.â€� He planned to take photographs of the graffiti around 51ºÚÁÏ before this year’s Paint Louis event, to prove it was there before festival participants came to town. Harrington said there was no proof that any vandalism was tied to people taking part in the Paint Louis event.

Some worry the festival inspires vandals to go rogue and tag spaces beyond the flood wall. Spencer, for example, called what happened to StilL 630’s billboard “just reprehensible. It really gives a bad name to the good artists who are engaged in constructive public art.�

Last week, some of this year’s Paint Louis participants showed up to the flood wall early. A woman named Resa and her boyfriend Menace, a couple in their 30s from Queens, New York, arrived in an RV with South Dakota plates. They blasted rap music as they painted an enormous mural titled “State of the Union� in the spot they were assigned.

Resa spent two days on a painting that depicts a woman blindfolded by a $100 bill and gagged by an American flag. Artists like Resa are invited to the festival after organizers screen portfolios to ensure they have at least five pieces of quality artwork.

Organizers of Paint Louis are clear to distinguish between the artists who create time-consuming art on the flood wall versus the “bombersâ€� (vandals) who tag as many spaces as possible on the fly. The vandals often leave huge bubble letters on public and private property. The flood wall art, meanwhile, can tell an intricate story on the sanctioned space. Resa was following the festival’s rules here in 51ºÚÁÏ but admits she has spray-painted illegally in other cities. Graffiti is “rooted in rebellion,â€� she added.

Police spokesman Mitch McCoy said the police department will increase patrols in and around the festival area over Labor Day weekend. Central Patrol Major Pierre Benoist said in an email that police “fully support the artistic vision of Paint Louis� and want to keep the event safe for everyone who attends.

“Anyone who damages property outside the designated area,� Benoist added, “could be subject to arrest.�

Weglarz, who owns StilL 630, said the spray-paint vandals who hit his business posted video of themselves doing it. He said he passed the information along to police, but police didn’t seem interested. No one was ever arrested in the StilL 630 vandalism or in two other spray-paint cases reported to police where buildings were defaced last September.

“I would like to think that they’ve made adjustments and there will be actual repercussions this year if people do go off premise with their activities,� Weglarz said.

He welcomes the added police patrols in the area and said he is trying to have more security with additional cameras at his business over the weekend too.

“We’re hoping maybe we will avoid the same fate as last year,� Weglarz said, “though I’m not super hopeful.�