When Browser’s New and Used Books owners Greg and Kathi Simmons rolled into their downtown Kent business on the morning of April 24, they had no reason to think it was anything but an ordinary work day.
But they soon realized they were wrong: on the back outside wall of their business, the location of their prized dragon mural, they found an ugly fact about living in a modern city.
The mural was coated liberally with layers of spray paint – the work of an unknown graffiti artist.
“We were sick,” said Greg Simmons, of the colorful mural that had so adequately described his quirky bookshop, before it was ruined.
Browsers wasn’t the only downtown shop to be hit over that weekend – a number of other businesses also bore the brunt of the paint-wielding vandal, or possibly, vandals.
According to Kent Police Lt. Lisa Price, a suspect hasn’t yet been located. But it’s possible the person could be one of Kent’s more prolific graffiti artists, or taggers, judging by the name they left behind on a few walls. Price thought the name or initials were something like “MYKL.” Greg Simmons said he thought he saw something on the order of “MTKOL” in the work left behind.
Regardless of initials or calling cards, what the vandal did leave behind was a big mess in paint. So with the mural’s original artist Rob Carlos of Auburn, the bookstore owners opted to take back their wall.
Carlos, speaking at the book store April 30, was bittersweet about the assignment.
“It makes me wonder what element in town here has changed,” he said, frustration tinging his voice, reflecting on the ruined mural he’d worked so hard on.
“I have a fear of heights as it is,” he added, about getting up on the ladder again to paint.
This time, though, Browsers didn’t just touch up the painting. They reinvented it.
With help from a group of friends, the mural has been completely redone. And this time, instead of a dragon reading a book to fairies, a fairy is reading a book to the dragon, in the colorful piece that harkens to Browsers’ fantasy angle as a book shop and art store.
Price said anyone with information about the incident is urged to call the Kent Police.
“That would be awesome if we could get someone who has some information useful in identifying the suspect in this case,” she said.
Contact the Kent Police Department at 253-856-5800.
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