Elizabeth Bowers, chair of the Fort Mill Economic Partners and a staff member at the Anne Springs Close Greenway, led a community unveiling on Saturday for a new public mural in downtown Fort Mill that she said will add "beauty and color to Fort Mill" and "reflect the spirit, creativity, and momentum that defines this town."

Bowers credited the Fort Mill Economic Partners and local partners for making the project possible, calling public art "an investment in placemaking" and saying the mural connects the town’s agricultural roots with its current growth. "This has been a couple of years in the making," she said, thanking volunteers and organizers for their work.

Local artist Debbie Witsett, the mural’s creator, described her process at the ceremony. "In the beginning, it was a lot of fun because I got to do graffiti," Witsett said, explaining that she photographed a spray-painted doodle to create a "doodle grid" that guided the larger composition. "It's called a doodle grid, and it's the first time that I ever did that," she added.

Witsett also described technical hurdles the team faced. She said the wall needed more preparation than anticipated and thanked her husband for helping while she recovered from surgeries, plus pottery teachers who covered her studio so she could finish the piece. "Thanks to the town for allowing to have some public art on the wall," Witsett said.

An unidentified attendee praised the finished work as "absolutely beautiful for the town of Fort Mill," and several speakers encouraged further public-art projects downtown. Bowers led a countdown to the reveal, then reminded attendees that refreshments would follow and that the local history museum planned an ornament unveiling later in the day.

Mayor Savage was introduced by Bowers as a planned speaker but does not appear in the transcript and did not speak during the recorded portion of the event. The ceremony ended after the unveiling and brief remarks, with organizers inviting the public to linger for refreshments and the museum event.