Greetings from Fargo

Fargo’s “Greetings from Fargo” is on the Roberts Street wall of the Dakotah Pioneer Center at the corner of 1st Avenue North and Roberts Street in downtown Fargo. Competed on June 26, 2021, this mural project connects Fargo to communities across the United States with the same goal: to celebrate community art and build a sense of hometown pride.

The Greetings Tour is a nationwide mural project creating iconic landmarks through public art. The project, by muralist Victor Ving and photographer Lisa Beggs, began in 2015 with the intent of creating a “Greetings from” mural in all 50 states. Ving and Beggs also launched a yearly mural grant, gifting one of their murals to organizations that have a positive impact in their local communities. Fargo and the Downtown Neighborhood Association are the first recipient. Ving and Beggs collaborate with a local artist to create one of the letters. The DNA Board of di selected Fargo artist Anna Johnson to collaborate on the mural. Johnson, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, incorporated indigenous design to represent the indigenous people of the area. 

Ving likes to plant “Easter Eggs” in his murals. In Greetings from Fargo, you might note that the clock is set to 7:01, a nod to the North Dakota area code, and the train number being 581 since all Fargo zip codes begin with those three digits. Ving also included the letters “DNA” on the sidewall of the ice rink as a shout out to the Downtown Neighborhood Association’s efforts to bring Greetings Tour to the state.