Payson Street Murals

By In Plain Site on September 2, 2025 • ( Leave a comment )

Mural on a brick wall in Payson, Utah, depicting scenes of cycling, parades, skiing, mountains, and community events. The words “Annual Events · Recreation · Sports” and “Payson Utah Home to Adventure” are painted alongside images of historic buildings, a bagpiper, and a banner for Onion Days.

A colorful mural in downtown Payson celebrates the city’s identity, highlighting Onion Days, outdoor recreation, historic landmarks, and community events. 54 West 100 North.

Every Labor Day weekend, the streets of Payson fill with the smell of fried onions, the sound of marching bands, and the bustle of carnival rides. Onion Days has been the town’s signature celebration since 1925, when Payson’s farmers were famed for the onions they grew in the rich soil at the mouth of Payson Canyon. What began as a harvest festival honoring a cash crop has become a yearly reminder of how this southern Utah County community defines itself: proud of its agricultural roots, eager to gather in the streets, and ready to welcome outsiders into the fold.

Payson was first settled in 1850, one of the earliest pioneer communities in Utah Valley. Its historic district still preserves brick and stone buildings from the 19th century, while landmarks like the Peteetneet Museum speak to a civic identity rooted in education and culture. For decades, farming shaped the rhythms of life here, from onions and sugar beets to fruit orchards stretching across the valley. Today, as the population tops twenty thousand and development pushes into once-rural fields, Payson balances the character of a small town with the pressures of rapid growth. Murals now join parades and festivals as another way the community claims its public space, extending a tradition of gathering on the street that Onion Days began nearly a century ago.

Last year, Payson’s Main Street has recently undergone a beautification process. Thankfully, they didn’t get rid of this old mural on the corner of 100 South and Main.

Mural painted on the side of a building showing a farmer behind two large draft horses plowing rows in a field. Snowcapped mountains rise in the distance under a blue sky with clouds. On a hill to the right, a large white “P” is painted, symbolizing Payson, with a tall pine tree and white birds completing the pastoral scene.

This mural celebrating Payson’s agrarian heritage can be found on two sides of the building at 26 W. Utah Ave.

Mural painted on a tiled wall depicting a desert scene with brown mountains and a blue sky. In the foreground, human figures sink into a field of gold with only heads and hands visible, one wearing a red bandana and another a black beanie. Above, a large crowned eagle with the number “99” tag flies through the sky, surrounded by floating gold bars. The artist’s signature reads “Melissa Me 2021.”

We’re not exactly sure what’s going on in this mural, on the side of the Wee Blue Inn Bar and Grill (48 N. Main). But it definitely makes you want to order a drink and ask the locals.

Framed mural at a bus stop in Payson, Utah, showing a stylized portrait of Chief Peteetneet in green and gold tones. Behind him is the Peteetneet Museum and Cultural Arts Center with trees and a wagon wheel in the foreground. The piece blends historic and cultural imagery, set within the structure of the bus shelter.

This public artwork at the UTA bus stop at depicts Chief Peteetneet, a Timpanogos Ute leader who welcomed early Mormon settlers to the area in 1850, and the Peteetneet Museum and Cultural Arts Center, a former school named in his honor that now serves as a local history museum and arts hub.