New Mural QR Codes Signs Make Learning Easier

Just Scan and Read

PRESS RELEASE – August 22, 2022

Punta Gorda, FL, August 2022— Walking around the town of Punta Gorda, you will notice lots of colorful murals. Some contain people, some animals, and some even pineapples. Why pineapples? They are part of the area’s local history and helped to make Punta Gorda what it is today.

The murals are the creations of the Punta Gorda Historic Mural Society, a non-profit, started 27 years ago as part of a city-wide revitalization project. Each mural presents a slice of the area’s rich history through public mural art.

The history presented in some of the murals is easy to understand, while others might leave you scratching your head, like the pineapples in the “End of the Line” mural on King Street (otherwise known as Rt. 41 North). What do they have to do with this area’s history? A simple scan of the QR (Quick Response) code sign on the mural wall will provide the answer and give you a brief history lesson.

The QR code signs were added to the mural walls eight years ago by the Society as a way for folks to do self-guided tours of the murals out of season when the guided tours were not being offered. Now they are used year-round by visitors or even residents wanting to show off this city’s unique attraction to their guests.

Over the years, the Society received feedback requesting the signs be larger and easier to find and scan. Originally 2” x 2” in size, some QR code signs were a challenge to locate when looking at 30- or 40-foot mural wall. The small size also required folks to get fairly close to the wall to scan the code, sometimes having to leave the sidewalk to do so.

That changed this week when the Society replaced the smaller code signs with new ones that are four times larger, making them easier to find and scan. Using the newer camera technology on our current mobile devices, the new larger QR code signs will allow folks to scan from a distance. Just point your phone’s camera app at the QR code and click the link that appears on the screen. All the information about the mural will be right at your fingertips.

The Society hopes this will provide folks using walkers, scooters, and wheelchairs, as well as people of all ages with physical disabilities, better and easier access so they can participate in one of Punta Gorda’s favorite tourist attractions. The new QR code signs were funded by the Edwards K. Roberts Emerging Needs Fund of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

About the Community Foundation of Sarasota County: The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is a public charity founded in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council as a resource for caring individuals and the causes they support, enabling them to make a charitable impact on the community. With assets of $520 million in more than 1,570 charitable funds, the Community Foundation awarded grants and scholarships totaling $27.5 million dollars last year in the areas of education, the arts, health and human services, civic engagement, animal welfare and the environment. Since its founding, the Community Foundation has been able to grant more than $350 million to area nonprofit organizations to our community thanks to the generosity of charitable individuals, families, and businesses. For more information, visit www.CFSarasota.org or call (941) 955-3000.