Entry No. 35 — the Pueblo file — filed under: street-art
FAROUT Murals of Walsenburg
Nationally-known muralists — including Navajo artist Chip Thomas, who has painted in Monument Valley and on the US-Mexico border — started covering the crumbling brick facades of a near-empty coal-town main street in 2021, and the town still gets so little tourist traffic that you will almost certainly walk the whole route without passing another visitor. The murals are building-sized and serious, not the cheerful civic kind: layered portraiture, Spanish Peaks landscapes, and labor history stacked on top of storefronts that have been slowly going dark for forty years. Walsenburg has no real visitor infrastructure, which means the art just sits there, unattended, in the high-desert light.
The story
Walsenburg spent four decades going quiet after the coal mines closed up, leaving behind a Main Street lined with sun-baked, crumbling brick storefronts. In 2021, artists—including Navajo muralist Chip Thomas, known for pasting massive wheat-paste portraits across Monument Valley and the US-Mexico border—began using those empty building facades as canvases. They didn't come to turn the strip into a polished outdoor mall; they came to match the scale of the high desert.
The resulting FAROUT Murals are heavy, layered, and deliberately unsanitized. You won't find pastel butterflies or generic civic slogans here; instead, you get giant monochrome portraiture, Spanish Peaks landscapes, and labor history pasted over century-old brickwork. Because Walsenburg lacks the heavy tourist infrastructure found further north along the Front Range, the art sits right along the sidewalk without velvet ropes, security cameras, or crowds.
What it's like
Exit 25 off I-25 drops you directly onto Main Street, where free street parking is almost absurdly easy to find. You can walk the surrounding couple of blocks in about an hour without stepping around other visitors, though you will be walking past storefronts that have been dark since the late twentieth century. Go on a weekday for the quietest stretch, and plan your walk around lunch at one of the two or three open local spots along the strip.
The move: Drive down from Pueblo on a weekday, park once anywhere on Main Street, and spend an hour walking the self-guided mural route before lunch at one of the two open restaurants.
📍 Before you go All murals are on exterior building walls along Main Street and the immediately surrounding blocks — entirely outdoors, flat sidewalk terrain, no gate or admission. Street parking is abundant and free. I-25 Exit 52 drops you directly onto Main Street.
- 📍 Walsenburg
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: Main Street, Walsenburg, CO 81089
Hours: Added 2026-06-21 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Museum of Friends — Step inside this downtown gallery filled with art traded among 1960s NYC loft painters to contrast Walsenburg's indoor art history with its outdoor murals.
- Walsenburg Mining Museum — Walk two blocks over to the 1896 stone jail where Mother Jones was detained to see the actual coal history depicted on the brick walls.
- Old Pictou Mine — Drive two miles down the road to visit the decaying coal camp that originally fueled the downtown commercial strip.
Good to know
Where exactly are the murals located?
They are painted directly onto the exterior building walls along Main Street and the immediate cross streets in downtown Walsenburg, Colorado.
How much does it cost and what are the hours?
It is completely free and open 24/7 since all murals are on public, outdoor building walls.
Who created the artwork?
A group of regional and national artists, notably Chip Thomas (also known as jetsonorama), launched the project in 2021, with additional murals added during regional events like Walsenburg Porchfest.
Is there a official tour or visitor center?
No. The experience is entirely self-guided—you simply park on Main Street and explore the blocks on foot.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: cpr.org · 303magazine.com · uncovercolorado.com · spanishpeakscountry.com · Reddit · worldjournalnewspaper.com
last checked: 2026-06-21