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A large crowd gathered to celebrate the unveiling of Greenville’s first downtown mural project on Monday.

Share the Love is located at 107 Caldwell St. and portrays the Camellia flower of the city.

Greenville native Stacey Edwards volunteered to paint the mural on Safe Harbor’s building and knew that the phrase represented the advocacy center the best.

“Safe Harbor is here for children that need to be advocated for,” Edwards said. “They’re the ones that our city could share more love with and get more involved in. After everything that’s been going on, it became the perfect theme.”

The mural took longer than expected and was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It really took only a couple of weeks of actual labor,” Edwards said. “But it spread over six months.”

Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tracy Salter partnered with local businesses to fund the project and gain the materials Edwards would need. Camellia Communications, Butler County Commission for Economic Development, Dr. Jean Thompson and Greenville Paint sponsored the project.

“This beautiful mural is a reminder of how amazing our city is and how awesome the citizens of the community are,” Salter said. “It’s a reminder that although things are a bit dim right now in light of the unknowns still surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Camellia City is full of so much beauty, happiness and love.”

The Share the Love mural is the first out of three mural projects that the Chamber has planned. They’re currently working to fund the last two murals within the next few months.