Los Vaqueros Mural: A Monument to 100 Years of Tucson’s Rodeo Tradition by Ignacio Garcia

🎨 The Artist Behind the Mural: Ignacio Garcia, one of Tucson’s most celebrated muralists, joins us fresh off the lift—literally—to discuss his latest and largest piece, Los Vaqueros.

🏇 A Tribute to 100 Years of Rodeo: The mural celebrates the centennial of the Tucson Rodeo, capturing the essence of cowboy culture, tradition, and the legacy of La Fiesta de los Vaqueros.

🏢 Perfect Location: After years of proposals for this wall, Garcia knew that the City Court building at Sixth Avenue & Alameda was the ideal place for this tribute to Tucson’s rich rodeo history.

📜 Designing History: From historical research to intricate artistic details, Garcia explains how he studied old photographs, consulted with rodeo fans, and worked closely with the Tucson Rodeo to ensure accuracy and authenticity.

🔍 Hidden Details & Cultural Representation: The mural includes subtle symbols and cultural elements that showcase Tucson’s diverse rodeo community, blending history with a modern perspective.

💡 The Creative Process: Garcia shares how his digital design techniques, combined with traditional mural painting, helped him execute this massive project with precision.

🌟 Emotional Impact: Tucsonans have responded with deep emotion, with many longtime residents feeling a strong connection to the mural’s representation of the Old Pueblo’s rodeo legacy.

🖼️ Preserving Public Art: Garcia reflects on the temporary nature of murals, touching on how past works like Rosa’s Resistance and Bill & the Jackalope have evolved with the city, and how Los Vaqueros will stand as a lasting tribute.

🚀 The Big Reveal: The mural has already generated buzz on social media, but Garcia insists that seeing it in person reveals new details and surprises that can’t be captured online.

📅 Experience the Tucson Rodeo: Mark your calendars for Feb 15-23, 2025, with the Rodeo Parade on Feb 20. Get more info at TucsonRodeoParade.org.

📍 Visit the Mural: Head to Sixth Avenue & Alameda to experience the scale and beauty of Los Vaqueros up close.

💬 Share Your Tucson Story! If you have a local story to tell, contact Tom Heath at Life Along the Streetcar—we’d love to feature more hidden gems of Tucson!

Downtown Tucson just gained a stunning new landmark, and it’s larger than life! Ignacio Garcia, one of Tucson’s most celebrated muralists, has unveiled his latest and largest piece—Los Vaqueros—a breathtaking tribute to 100 years of the Tucson Rodeo. Located at the City Court building at Sixth Avenue and Alameda, this massive artwork is impossible to miss, capturing the spirit, grit, and heritage of the rodeo in vivid color.

In this episode of Life Along the Streetcar, we sit down with Garcia, fresh off the lift, to talk about his creative process, the historical depth of the mural, and why this project is so personal to him. He shares how the Tucson Rodeo approached him with the idea and how he meticulously researched rodeo history to ensure every detail—from the cowboys’ expressions to the textures of their clothing—felt authentic. This mural isn’t just a painting on a wall; it’s a piece of living history, telling the story of Tucson’s deep-rooted rodeo traditions.

Bringing the Tucson Rodeo to the Streets of Downtown

The Tucson Rodeo, also known as La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, is a century-old tradition that brings thousands of visitors to Tucson each year. The event showcases world-class rodeo competitions, a legendary non-mechanized parade, and a vibrant celebration of the region’s cowboy culture. Garcia’s mural serves as an extension of this legacy, bringing the energy of the rodeo into the heart of downtown for all to see, year-round.

Throughout the interview, Garcia describes how he wanted this mural to appeal to younger generations while respecting the traditions of the past. He blends classic Western imagery with his signature bold, dramatic style, ensuring the mural will remain visually and culturally relevant for years to come. And, in true Ignacio Garcia fashion, he’s even included some hidden details—small artistic elements that locals and visitors can discover over time.

A Living Piece of Tucson’s Culture

One of the most powerful aspects of Los Vaqueros is its emotional impact on the community. Garcia reflects on how longtime Tucsonans have shared personal stories about what the rodeo means to them, making this mural even more meaningful. He also emphasizes the importance of representation, ensuring that the piece reflects the diverse cultures and people who have shaped Tucson’s rodeo tradition.

Public art in Tucson is constantly evolving, and Garcia is no stranger to change. In the interview, he discusses how some of his past murals have been covered or replaced, but he sees this as a natural part of a city’s artistic evolution. While murals may not last forever, their impact does. And for now, Los Vaqueros stands as a powerful and lasting tribute to the spirit of the Old Pueblo.

Visit, Experience, and Share Tucson’s Rodeo Legacy!

📍 See the mural in person! Head to Sixth Avenue & Alameda in Downtown Tucson and witness the scale and detail of Los Vaqueros for yourself.

🎟️ Attend the Tucson Rodeo (Feb 15-23, 2025) and experience the tradition firsthand. Don’t miss the Rodeo Parade on Feb 20! Visit TucsonRodeoParade.org for event details.

💬 Have a story to share? If you know of another hidden gem in Tucson—whether it’s a mural, a historic site, or a community event—we’d love to hear about it! Contact Tom Heath at Life Along the Streetcar and help us uncover the next great story.

🚋 Follow us for more Tucson stories! Stay connected on Facebook and SoundCloud for more episodes highlighting the people, culture, and history of Downtown Tucson.

Tom Heath
Good morning. It’s, beautiful Sunday in the Old Pueblo. And you’re listening to Katy Tucson. Thank you for spending a part of your brunch hour with us on your downtown Tucson. A community sponsored, all volunteer powered rock and roll radio station. This week, we’re welcome back, Ignacio Garcia, one of Tucson’s most iconic muralist. He has just unveiled his latest and largest creation in Tucson.

Tom Heath
Fi cross. It’s a stunning tribute celebrating 100 years of the rodeo tradition. Today is February 2nd, 2025. My name is Tom Heath and you are listening to life along the street car. Each and every Sunday our focus is on social, cultural and economic impacts in Tucson’s urban core, and we shed light on hidden gems everyone should know about, from about to the University of Arizona and all stops in between.

Tom Heath
You get the inside track right here on 99.1 FM streaming on downtown radio.org. Also available on your iPhone or Android when you use our very own Downtown Radio Tucson app. If you want to connect with us on the show, we invite you to interact with us on Facebook and Instagram. And if you want more information about us, our book, past episodes, or simply to contact us, head to life Along the Street car.org.

Tom Heath
And of course you can listen to our podcast if you happen to miss the original airing here on Downtown Radio. The podcast is on places like Spotify, iTunes, I Heart Radio and a few others out there. You can find it a lot of places when you’re a out searching for your favorite podcast. Today’s story is, one that we have told in the past, with Ignacio Garcia unveiling a fabulous mural and capturing everyone’s attention and gaining all kinds of notoriety for our little city here in Tucson, Arizona.

Tom Heath
He is back at it again recently just completed and had the unveiling yesterday on the first on Saturday of his newest mural. It’s called Loss of Our Cattle, so it’s huge. It’s right there on the corner of, Sixth Avenue Alameda. And to all those those intersections there, it’s the city court building, large mural, three, three cowboys prominently displayed there.

Tom Heath
And, and a lot of symbolism, celebrating the rodeo. Had a chance to sit down with him, in our in our studio just a handful of days ago and talk about this, just before he had finished it up, he, he actually came into the interview just half the scaffolding, off the lift there and, and came right in to do the interview.

Tom Heath
This is, Ignacio Garcia from, our interview on Tuesday. It’s good to have you back on the show. And I think the first time interviewing you in our fabulous, cool studio.

Ignacio Garcia
Oh, yeah. Yeah, it’s it’s a, from last time. What a big difference. I’m actually really impressed. That can actually can’t wait for next year, two years from now. Yeah. You see how big it’s going to get?

Tom Heath
I think so, yeah, I think so.

Ignacio Garcia
I know for sure.

Tom Heath
We got some really good ideas and interest. But anyway let’s talk about yeah let’s talk about big ideas. Yeah. You know when, when the name Ignacio Garcia comes up, it’s, you know, obviously at the top of the list of Tucson muralists. And, I noticed that you don’t you don’t do, like, a lot of small stuff.

Ignacio Garcia
You, Yeah. I was not expecting to do some small stuff that just kind of, I guess people that just wanted to go big, you know?

Tom Heath
I guess so. And I should mention, if you got to watch the video, if you’re just listening on the radio or on the podcast because, you came in like the worst dressed person we’ve ever had on the show. Oh, perfect. You were you were covered in paint. You’re wearing kneepads. Did you literally just get off the scaffolding?

Ignacio Garcia
I literally got off the lift.

Tom Heath
Okay. Yeah.

Ignacio Garcia
It was, but, you know, nice. The weather was quite challenging.

Tom Heath
It was. It was.

Ignacio Garcia
Very cold. Yeah.

Tom Heath
Little rain today, a little sprinkle.

Ignacio Garcia
I got less people. Yeah.

Tom Heath
So let’s talk about I, I want to talk about a few things, but let’s let’s catch everyone up here. Yeah. On the project that you’re, you’re completing right now and.

Ignacio Garcia
Yes,

Tom Heath
We’re as we record this, it’s, it’s Tuesday. We’re going to air this on Sunday. And by this coming Saturday, February 1st, you’re having the reveal of your brand new, mural.

Ignacio Garcia
Yes. Which is the Tucson Rodeo hundred year anniversary. That’s insane. It’s insane a hundred years. Can you believe that?

Tom Heath
You know, I can, because I, I, I’ve seen old photos, and it’s, you know, like, this non mechanized parade and all these things that I. And all these traditional things that I, when I moved to Tucson, I never would have believed it. But, you know, after being here for a while, I get a sense of it with the, what I can’t believe is the size of that thing.

Tom Heath
Is that your largest mural.

Ignacio Garcia
For Tucson is my largest. Yeah.

Tom Heath
It’s, Yeah, if you’re. So. It’s at the. It’s at that intersection of, Tooele and Alameda and sixth, and it’s the and the there’s a parking lot there, and it’s like a city building, right.

Ignacio Garcia
Like city Gresham. The city court.

Tom Heath
Yeah. It’s just a huge. And it’s just you see it from everywhere.

Ignacio Garcia
I and I expect that, to be honest with you. I’ve been I’ve been on that wall for many years. I had a lot of proposals to it, and they went through. But because the rodeo, it made sense to represent Tucson that way. Sure. So I pushed it really hard for it to kind of because I believed in it.

Ignacio Garcia
It was a perfect, perfect spot.

Tom Heath
Did you come up with the design and approached the rodeo or did someone come to the rodeo?

Ignacio Garcia
Actually, they came to me, okay. And they were asking, hey, if we want to see if we can do a mural. I was like, sure. And then the more we talked about it, the more I want to know more about the history. I didn’t know much. Again, I didn’t know even much more about the, the rodeo as well.

Ignacio Garcia
Because it’s it seemed like, it was just kind of the old Tucson tradition. But now it’s became 100 years. I’m like, oh, we gotta go big. Let’s go, let’s, let’s, let’s, let’s make let’s make the Tucson rodeos into a new form for a younger audience and a new kind of perspective of what, kind of this cowboy, new, look, it would be, and I think I think it’s already grabbing a lot of insane attention.

Tom Heath
But it’s that it’s interesting because from different parts of downtown, you just see different pieces of, like when you’re standing in front of it, obviously you see the formula. But if you’re a couple of blocks away and you’re looking over, you see like a rooftop, and then you see like a cowboy. Yeah, just sort of peeking out over the top, it’s.

Ignacio Garcia
Yeah, it’s it’s yeah.

Tom Heath
It’s pretty big.

Ignacio Garcia
Oh then you see 100, I’m like, what’s 104? You know, and then.

Tom Heath
What the, the design of it though is that it. How does that work? Is that something that you drew outside? Hey, let’s, first of all, there’s there’s let lay the scene and we’ll put some, links to, of course, on our Facebook page, but there’s three the major focus of it. There’s three, cowboys standing. Yeah.

Tom Heath
And, they look cowboy like I know real people. Well.

Ignacio Garcia
It’s a little bit of everything, okay? Because, doing the research, I wanted to, you know, make sure that it was done exactly right. That really represented the Tucson rodeo and the fan base, a true fan base that really represented all these years. I wanted to make sure that I was kind of, you know, including them, a party and, the more I was talking, I was taking some notes.

Ignacio Garcia
I saw a lot of photos. I went to cardstock, some stock photos, even some I, I did everything as much as possible to kind of capture that look, but it wasn’t, you know, I mean, I had to go through a lot, like with any major mural. I had to go through a lot of renderings to make sure it’s done right.

Ignacio Garcia
You want to make sure that it lasts like a it’s maybe like five years ahead of its time. That way when it’s five years comes, it’ll be already another five more years for it to age. So longevity maybe ten years. That’s my goal. But, things change in the time. But the thing is that I wanted to make sure that the design was that fits everything.

Ignacio Garcia
So there’s a little puzzles in there. There’s little, you know, me, I, I put a little hidden things in there. And so, you know, it’s something that I need to, that it’s all there at everything that represents Tucson, especially the culture and the people that were behind it.

Tom Heath
That’s Ignacio Garcia he’s talking about. His newest mural. Those for Caruso, was just unveiled yesterday, celebrating 100 years worth of rodeo tradition in the Old Pueblo. We’re going to finish up that interview in just a moment. But first, I want to remind you that you’re listening to life The Street Car, Downtown Radio 99.1 FM and streaming on downtown radio.org.

James Portis
This podcast is sponsored by Tom Heath and the team at Noble Home Loans. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, continue listening or head over to life on the Street. Khou.com for current events and information on what to do while visiting Tucson. Tom Heath and MLS number 182420 Nova and MLS number 3087 became number 0902429. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Tom Heath
As well as the fabulous voice there of our, daytime drivetime, morning DJ paleo, Dave says, Tucson Gallery is a supporter of downtown radio. They also have some of the work by Ignacio in their gallery. He has been on the Meet the Artists podcast we recorded through Tucson Studios and a few others we’ve done here through life along the street car.

Tom Heath
We’ve been talking with him about his, newest creation, Los Vaqueros, the, celebrating 100 years of rodeo tradition in Tucson. We’re gonna kind of jump back into that interview, get, a little bit more details on how that all comes together and then ask him about some of his other works. He’s got plenty of beautiful pieces around, and we wanted to make sure we touched upon those as well.

Tom Heath
You go over the rendering and go to the rodeo and they’re like, yes, this is perfect. And you just start.

Ignacio Garcia
Yes. Yeah. We had to go through the city and the Arts Foundation and had, meetings to get the the city approved. You know, it has some challenges. That’s normal. You know, we want to make sure that, to hear it from their perspective, it’s always important to. Yeah. To have. And you know, and and sometimes you might miss something that you don’t even know.

Ignacio Garcia
And it’s always good to have those, opinions available there to.

Tom Heath
Yeah, I imagine with the amount of research that you do, there’s, there’s probably a bunch of different concepts that came through as far as what you wanted to do.

Ignacio Garcia
Yes. There were at least maybe 20 concepts, but at least five were kind of approved. Okay. And then it kind of filtered down. And then once it got to select and then that had to be filtered out and then had to kind of branch out to its own little thing. But we’re going back and forth to make sure everything’s right.

Ignacio Garcia
But it got approved and we were excited. And now right there just immediately just felt right to know that this is going to be we just I just knew that this fall was perfect for the rodeo because it literally the history of the rodeo represents Tucson. Yeah. And the Sonoran culture.

Tom Heath
Yeah. That seems like the that that culture, that history just in the in the in the people, the way they’ve drawn the people, what they’re wearing. Yeah. All of the accessories. It just really sort of represents this region. So yeah.

Ignacio Garcia
And I try and make it a mixed culture. And, you know, you want to make sure, like, you don’t want to I don’t want people to think it’s that one race or that race. It’s like the community, you know, so everyone’s sharing ideas and that’s the goal. And that’s how Tucson always been. And it’s always has that will always present itself that way.

Tom Heath
Is it named yet?

Ignacio Garcia
For now, I think it’s just the vaqueros. I called it the Three Amigos at first as amigos, but, I don’t know. It has all these kind of things. Made the Tucson Rodeo mural, but I think those vaqueros is probably the sounds more rodeo ish. Rodeo ish. And then Tucson.

Tom Heath
Is, I mean, it’s it’s it’s a very serious. It’s a very serious piece. You know, it is.

Ignacio Garcia
I didn’t expect that. I did not expect the people’s reaction that how emotional they really got it really spoke to the people that been here longer than I have. I mean, it’s crazy to know that I would never expect that this mural is speaking for them.

Tom Heath
But and, you know, over the last few years, as I’ve gotten to really know you, the pieces that you’ve been doing are the empowered woman like that, that Easter, Rosa’s resistance, which I want to talk to you about. Yes, but very powerful, vibrant women. Yeah. And then to switch to this, I mean, is it is it different or is it just.

Tom Heath
No.

Ignacio Garcia
It’s very dramatic. I mean, all the pieces is very dramatic. It has to be a dynamic in a sense that, It’s it has a traditional look to it, but there’s a story behind it. But you don’t have to see it. You just feel it. That’s the goal. But there is a there is a female.

Tom Heath

Ignacio Garcia
Bronco.

Tom Heath
Rider that I saw that I was, I my first thought was seeing these, these, large portrayals of men. I’m like, yeah, that’s not Ignacio. Tranquil lady. Like we get. Where’s the lady? Yeah, we’re the ladies. And then, of course, you incorporated to to bring everyone in that’s associated with the rodeo.

Ignacio Garcia
The lady got covered, so it’s not if there’s not there no more. Oh, yeah, I did.

Tom Heath
Yeah, I saw that on Fourth Avenue, which, you know, it talks to that sort of, what you’re saying earlier that these, as beautiful as they are, they’re temporary. Yeah. I was just we just don’t know, you know, recently, I think the most recent news before this one was when, you covered up a bill and, the jackalope.

Ignacio Garcia
Yeah. I got a.

Tom Heath
Lot of Rialto people.

Ignacio Garcia
Like, I guess, freaking out.

Tom Heath
I think they were. What I talk is in our gallery is right in front of me when I. When I talk to people about it, they were some of them that understood. It was sad. Yeah. But then when they knew that you had chosen to do that and it was your work that was going over it, it made them feel okay.

Tom Heath
It’s it’s sort of an evolution. It’s the next phase. Yeah. And and as you explain, I think in an interview either here on some podcast that we did there, meet the artist talking about, you know really representing downtown and and yeah culture more so than you thought, you know, that you liked Bill in the jackalope. Yeah. It might be more fitting for a Fourth Avenue or university said it.

Ignacio Garcia
Yeah, absolutely. Plus I gave I had posters that can give away people that were attached to it. So it was something that I, I felt like.

Tom Heath
A lot of those away.

Ignacio Garcia
I had. Yeah, I think there was like a thousand of them. I still have a little few left over, so I’ll still give them away.

Tom Heath
So then the one mural that we’ve not really talked about, which I honestly think is my favorite or. Yeah, I guess they’re all my favorite, but I think the one that I really want to look at, I just draws me in is Rosa’s resistance. Yeah. Can you tell us a little about that? And like, what’s going on in there?

Ignacio Garcia
So that building, was a fabrication before it got abandoned, or sold, but before that, it was actually a steel working place for the railroad. And after that, lost the work that was happening there. And I can’t believe there’s maybe a two hour line, I think. I don’t know from what I remember, but.

Tom Heath
Originally it had been been used by the railroad for.

Ignacio Garcia
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. The whole block. The whole that’s actually is a town of Iron Block. Yeah.

Tom Heath
Iron horse neighborhood.

Ignacio Garcia
My horse. Yeah. Sorry.

Tom Heath
The Iron Horse neighborhood. Yeah. And and then, like that, that that beautiful woman in this very rough setting. I think I told you before we came on here, it’s it’s got this really rough, rugged edge to it, but it’s also at the same time, very soft and very.

Ignacio Garcia
Yeah. Yeah. I think, that balance is because, again, made being in the public, I always have to balance that out. I always try to test out things here and there, but it’s always important after so many years of experience, to kind of know what what your limit would be. So absolutely you know, you want to have it this appealing femininity to it, but yet again that it has a strong emotional impact.

Ignacio Garcia
But overall just visually stunning in the sense of like dramatic.

Tom Heath
But it’s the red I think it’s it definitely has a feel to it. If you haven’t seen it, it’s in the Iron Horse neighborhood, across from the coffee shop there. It’s on ninth and, ninth Street and Third Avenue. Yes. Kind of tucked away so might not be as well known as some of your other ones.

Tom Heath
Yeah. And she’s in there. She. Is she working on the railroad or what. She what’s what she doing.

Ignacio Garcia
So originally we wanted to put a, railroad worker there, and then they. And then, then once I started doing the female, traditional women, then they wanted to say, oh, you know what? What if can you change it to a female, like, here? Something about it just didn’t look right. Kind of look like deliberately. Annoy me.

Ignacio Garcia
Like I have to make sure that you. Sometimes you don’t want to tell a story too much. You want to just let the imagination kind of create the story of the of the of the idea. Because then it becomes kind of personal if you do it too, if you give it away too much. So you want to kind of step back.

Tom Heath
Yeah.

Ignacio Garcia
So but because it’s already the Iron Horse block area, the community, everyone knows about the history about that, that community. So I try to make it seem like as if there was an actual person that actually was actually there to give that. And you can, when you see it gives you the sense of you can hear it, you know, it’s yeah.

Tom Heath
You can definitely hear this, that like you, all your senses you can use by looking at that, you can hear it. I think you can. You kind of smell. Yep. And there’s a lot that you get from that. It’s just amazing to me what you can do with with paint on a brick wall.

Ignacio Garcia
Yeah. Yeah. And so when that got approved I’m like, let’s do it in a yeah I mean sometimes like some projects, you know, they pay for what it’s, you know, what they’re paying for. I actually did it deliberately. I was like, you know what? I’ll, I’ll put a little bit extra to this because it’s I knew that it needed it.

Ignacio Garcia
It needed something that it was unique. But I was, you know, me, I tend to put over overdo myself. Yeah, I, I just can’t.

Tom Heath
We should probably edit that piece out because when people are coming to you for a mural, they’ll be like, oh, just don’t underbid him because he’ll you’ll still make it great. Oh, no. I’m just I’m just teasing.

Ignacio Garcia
No. Yeah. I mean I mean, there’s always a way to to to work things out. I’m not, you know, I, you know, I, I whatever in the end, it’s the end result. It’s valuable to me.

Tom Heath
And it’s been great for our community the way that. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, a lot of the murals I think also are in that same day when it’s up there and it’s permanent. They want it to be that that lasting impression. And we are kind of running low on time. But I want to jump back really quickly to something you said that caught my attention about your research for, for the newest mural.

Tom Heath
Yeah. You said you went through you, like, tinkered with. I. Yeah, like, how does that work? I mean, that that seems odd to me that as an artist that I comes into play for you. How does that.

Ignacio Garcia
I’ve always been digitally like geek. I geek out with anything with digital for forever. I mean, in fact, I was doing Photoshop to Photoshop to in high school. It’s almost 30 years ago. It’s insane. So since then I started using Photoshop even before I’m in Photoshop using it, people were like kind of degrading me because like, oh, you’re cheating, you know?

Ignacio Garcia
But when I lived in LA, they’re like, oh, you use Photoshop? Yes. You’re hired, you’re professional. You know, but but it things evolve, you know. But that that’s how it is, how technology works. It’s always going to be a tool no matter what. You know, I don’t you know, I don’t judge on that. For myself, it’s always a way to kind of understand why that is.

Ignacio Garcia
And it’s not perfect, you know, but it’s, you know, you still have to be using. You have to be creative no matter what. In the end, it’s for me. It takes still, it takes me the same amount of time to come up with something out of my head or doing some Photoshop, you know? So it’s it’s it’s a little bit faster.

Ignacio Garcia
But I’m still a perfectionist and knowing what exactly what I want. So it’s not like for me it’s just it’s a tool.

Tom Heath
So it’s it’s an interesting interesting. It’s a it’s a good perspective. Well, most for Carol, it’s beautiful. Yeah. Looking forward to, Yeah, it’s a reveal, but it’s kind of hard to reveal something that’s so publicly out there. Well.

Ignacio Garcia
You know, this is the crazy thing. Is that for those people that, that’s it’s already been on social media for the last couple weeks. It looks way different than what it looks now, so.

Tom Heath
Well, literally before this interview, you got off the lift. So. Yeah. You there changes to whatever was posted two weeks ago is not.

Ignacio Garcia
Yeah, I think it’s done. But it’s not. No, it’s it looks completely different. So that’s the it just had kind of happened that way. I mean this is like a month before. And then people were just kind of promoting it and got a lot of great, viral I guess. But but it’s, it doesn’t it? People think it’s done, but it’s really not done.

Ignacio Garcia
I still I’m still working and I’ll be finished by tomorrow or Thursday, so.

Tom Heath
But for the reveal on on the first it’ll be, it’ll be done and will be done.

Ignacio Garcia
Done by then for sure. Yeah. But, if you if anyone wants to come and look at it after it’s done, done the next couple days and you’ll notice a huge difference. It’s, it’s it’s not how it looks like. What what you saw on social media, but it’s it’s pretty cool. Yeah.

Tom Heath
Garcia. Garcia, always a pleasure to to take some time with you. And I really appreciate as busy as you are literally coming in and spending time with us today.

Ignacio Garcia
Well thank you, Tom. Thank you for having me here and I, I, I get it, I got excited to be here again to be interviewed by you again. So just to see how everything’s coming along, man, it’s crazy blushing. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah.

Tom Heath
Ignacio was very gracious. You know, he was on the news. I think he was just interviewed on PBS. He’s got, people from all over wanting some of his time. And, honestly, the fact that he came down off of his lift came to the gala, to the studio to record the podcast, and then went back to finish up some work.

Tom Heath
So he could be ready for yesterday’s unveiling with Matt. It meant a lot to us, and we really appreciate him doing that. If you want to catch the video, we should have that up on our website. Lifelong the streetcar fairly soon. Good chance to catch a hit artist in his element, because he literally showed up with, with paint dripping, off of him.

Tom Heath
My name is Tommy. You’re listening to lifelong the Streetcar, downtown radio 99.1 FM, and we’re streaming on downtown radio.org.

James Portis
Support for downtown radio is provided by the Tucson Gallery, located in downtown Tucson. Instead of the proper shops attended East County Street, the Tucson Gallery offers original work, reproductions, and merchandise from Tucson artists like Joe Pejic, Jasper Gonzalez, Ignacio Garcia, and many more. For information about other artists, including when they will be live at the Gallery, head to the Tucson gallery.com or find them on Instagram and Facebook as Tucson Gallery.

Tom Heath
Well, before you go, bye bye. Remember that words and work with Ted Brazil skis coming up here at the top of the hour. And then, sorry, at the bottom of the hour. And then at the top of the next hour at noon. Ty Logan with heavy metal is in, again, thank you to to Ignacio for taking some time, doing a very, very busy week to, to share with us.

Tom Heath
We didn’t talk about it much in the interview, but this is a celebration of the rodeo. And, if you’re looking for prints of the mural, they will be available through the rodeo. Ignacio does this a lot. He’ll paint the mural, and then the rights go back to whatever organization we saw it. We’ve seen him do fundraisers with this.

Tom Heath
With with other, ones of his works. So if you want to get the, the prints, I believe the first place to get them is going to be at the Tucson Rodeo. It’s, held from the 15th to the 23rd this year than the the rodeo parade. It has a, I understand, a slightly different route will be happening on the 20th.

Tom Heath
So make sure you check out the website, the Tucson Rodeo Parade. Dot org to get details on the new route. And, you know, just like the rodeo, the parade itself. There’s, there’s 100 years old, so a huge, huge tradition here in Tucson. And I like their, kind of their tagline 100, a Century of Rodeo.

Tom Heath
80s head of time. I’ve heard from many who attend this that it sells out. So you might want to check to, to make sure tickets are available before you head down or get them in advance. I think you can get all those links from the Tucson Rodeo Parade. Dot org website. They can link you over to the to the rodeo as well and get some, some tickets there.

Tom Heath
If there’s something coming up that you want us to talk about, let us know and hit us up on Instagram or Facebook. You can also, you know, go to our website. There’s a contact button on us. And, you know, if you have a social media account, please tag us or do something to connect us because we’d love to share what you’re doing on our page and make sure that the collaboration, continues and been very, very, appreciative of those who have spent time and energy to come up with some great stories for us to share on life along the streetcar.

Tom Heath
And we want to return that favor where we can. So if you’re involved with something, if you have a passion, you know, if you’re listening to this show, you’re hyper local. You’re you’re in tune with a very specific part of Tucson. Basically three and a half miles of an urban core. So things are happening in there, on, on the regular.

Tom Heath
So, share with us what it is that we need to be getting out in the world. Those hidden gems we need to be uncovering again. That’s contact a lifelong streetcar.org as our email and Facebook and Instagram. Great ways to do that. James Portis is our production specialist. Amanda Mulattos is the production assistant. My name is Tom Heath.

Tom Heath
I’m your host and producer. Now. Each week our music is courtesy of Ryan Hood. To start the show, we get to use their song and Dillinger Days, as we have since the very beginning of our shows in 2017. They’re gracious to, to let us, use their and, today, in honor of our muralist and his mural, loss of a cross, we’re going to leave you with a band called Lois Elegant, headers.

Tom Heath
And it’s from 2018. And, the song, I think very appropriately, it’s called Ella Vaccaro. I hope you have a great week. And, tune in next Sunday for more life along the streetcar.