If you drive through the heart of Parrish, look for the big beautiful “Welcome to Parrish” mural, by Artist Cortney Wall Crawford. It takes up one of the walls of the Parrish Supermarket, 12330 U.S. Hwy. 301, next to Parrish General Supply.
One of the oldest buildings in Parrish, it was formerly Whidden’s Grocery Store, owned and operated by Finis and Lila Whidden from 1943 to 1967. The letters making up “PARRISH” in the artwork contain images of a few representative historical pieces of Parrish: Brothers Crawford & John Parrish; another store, William Augustus Lundy’s General Store, which was center of the thriving village until the depression; farmland; and a steam engine.
Cattle and citrus are on the left, and children playing near the headquarters of General Thomas L. Hamer near the Manatee River are on the right.
The mural was made possible by the Parrish Civic Association, which applied for a Neighborhood Enhancement Grant from Manatee County’s Neighborhood Connections Division.