DANVILLE — A year has gone by since more than 150 Walldogs descended on Danville to paint 15 murals depicting everything from local to national historical figures and businesses to people who lived here and went on to make it big in Hollywood.

Walldogs 2.0 is set to kick off Wednesday and be a petite version of last year's painting marathon, but have a similar number of associated events during the painting days Aug. 4 through 6.

"The Walldogs event was so successful that both city officials and the public wanted continue the idea of adding murals but also the feeling that event gave everyone," said Alicia Pettigrew, chairman of Danville Walldogs, a nonprofit established recently. "It's really a beautification organization. This year, we will add two murals and repaint the war plane. Next year, we may not do a mural.

"We might do something to enhance the murals like add lighting or an entirely different project that just adds to the area in another way," Pettigrew added. "We just want people to come down and get that same feeling of community pride we saw last year."

Work was completed last week on the repainting of a camouflaged A-7 Corsair plane on display at Logan Avenue and West Main Street being done by Mike and Eileen Meyer, who will soon make Danville their home.

"We will do some additional landscaping near the plane," said Shelly Larson, downtown services superintendent. "It is a camouflaged plane but it looks like it just came out of the factory now with the emblems in place."

"The murals bring attention to the city and they also offer an opportunity to show off how hard various group work to beautify our city in a variety of ways and hopefully inspire others to do so as well," Larson added.

Only two murals are scheduled this year. Michael Clark of Aledo will lead the project creating the History of Vermilion County Coal Mining mural on the west wall of Greene's Automotive, 109 Van Buren St. It's completion will complement the Star Fireworks C & L Glass and the Rissmann Windbreaker Factory murals, creating a string of three murals, all viewable on the west side of the first and second blocks of Hazel Street.

Clark headed up the team who painted the Chicago and Eastern Railroad mural on the north wall of County Market on East Main Street.

Meyer, who headed up the Chuckles mural on the south side of The News-Gazette building, takes on the task of painting a set of aluminum panels he said will be roughly 8 feet high and 72 feet long, depicting the History of Germantown. Painting of the panels is set for the space next to the Vermilion County Court House Annex on Vermilion Street and often called the Kresge lot.

"This will be a great place for people to come who want to help," Meyer said. "We will have a lot to accomplish."

This mural will be permanently mounted on the west side of the railroad overpass just east of Danville High School on Fairchild Street as you enter the portion of Danville, originally settled by numerous German immigrant families.

"Having this mural plus the painting of the war plane brings a whole new aspect to the beautification aspect of these events in an area other than the downtown and makes this and future similar events a part of the city as a whole," said Mayor Scott Eisenhauer. "The hope is to create a similar set of panels for the east side of the overpass that will depict the history of Danville High School to be done after the subway project is completed in about two years."

A formal presentation of the repainted plane for the public is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday with an invitation only area for artists and event sponsors from 7 to 9 p.m. at the site.

Mural work begins that night when it is dark enough to use projections equipment and outline the designs in order to be ready to paint early Thursday morning.

Last year's event brought more people downtown than had been seen for anything other than a parade in years, and committee planners want to continue that tradition as well by planning family friendly activities around other existing regular summer events.

"I think the community and the people haven't forgotten the tourism the murals have brought to Danville," Eisenhauer said. "The one-year anniversary is the perfect time to add more and to appreciate everyone's efforts."

The Walldogs Street Fair will cap the event Saturday evening with an auction offering canine and art items, including pet- and other-themed baskets containing multiple items.

Art items include a framed Walldogs Crossing photo, which is part of this year's event image. Plus pieces representative of the two murals from Michael Clark and Mike Meyer, a Dale Manor original design for the Balloon Classic mural and a print of the C&EI Railroad mural.