A 1,120-foot-long wall running down 34th Street in west Gainesville has served as a creative landing space for decades — full of art, memorials and messages conveyed through graffiti and murals. One of those murals was devoted to honoring Gainesville rock ’n’ roll star Tom Petty.
In late February, the UF student club Islam on Campus painted over that mural. The club wrote a message to promote its Fast-a-Thon event, an annual charity gala hosted during Ramadan, providing food and promoting the Islamic faith.
Islam on Campus posted a written apology via Facebook Feb. 22, explaining the act was purely unintentional, and the group was unaware of the mural’s importance to the Gainesville community.
“Unfortunately, we were unaware of the mural's importance and inadvertently covered it with a message promoting our Fast-a-Thon event,” the post said. “It is important for us to make clear that this incident has nothing to do with religion or any form of hate.”
The apology also condemned any Islamophobia that arose in the community from the mural, specifically from online platforms.
“We are committed to fostering an environment of respect and unity within our Gainesville community,” the club wrote. “The inadvertent actions of a student organization should not ever be a reflection on a religion and its values.”
An independent artist is now dutifully recreating the original Petty mural, which is expected to be completed by Friday.
The mural’s origins
The backlash and emotional responses from the community stemmed not only from protectiveness over Petty, but over the mural’s original artist, who died in January 2024.
Steven Blake Harrison, the mural’s artist, had a form of genetic blood cancer. He first painted the Petty mural shortly after the “I Won’t Back Down” singer’s death from cardiac arrest in 2017. Later, during Harrison’s battle with cancer, he took on the responsibility of maintaining the mural, as reported by WCJB — remaking it each time it got painted over.
Harrison also faithfully maintained a memorial to the Gainesville student murders of 1990 on the same wall.
David Hammer, a 72-year-old Gainesville resident and UF alumnus, said he assumed Petty’s mural and Harrison’s artwork would always be there.
“Hey, celebrate the faith, absolutely,” Hammer said, “but don't impinge on something that's really, really important to a lot of other people.”
Hammer was disappointed the mural was painted over because he had a personal connection to Petty, who he went to high school with, and Harrison, who he was acquaintances with, he said.
The mural dedicated to Petty depicted a large red heart with the head of an electric guitar shooting through it instead of an arrow. It read “Gainesville No. 1 Son” in block letters, with “Tom Petty” written underneath.
Petty was born and raised in Gainesville and attended Gainesville High School. He would go on to form the band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1976. The rock group’s discography contains a stream of notable hits, including “American Girl” and “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.”
The future of the mural
Harry D. Michael, a 72-year-old independent artist, is now stepping in to completely repaint the mural, which measures 21 by 7 feet. Michael, a longtime Gainesville resident who joined a traveling artists caravan called the “California Professional Artists Society” at 19 years old, said he met Harrison and Petty multiple times.
He said he was “shocked” when he heard the mural was painted over.
“Real lack of awareness around here,” Michael said. “It’s kind of sacred over here.”
With the help of a photocopy of Harrison’s work, Michael is repainting an exact replica of the original Petty mural, with one small change: He’s “Gatorizing” it by adding brighter orange and blue colors to his version.
Michael never went to school at UF, but he said the school spirit is a part of Gainesville and a part of him. He expects Petty’s mural to take him about a week to complete; he started working on it Sunday morning and hopes to finish by Friday.
“There’s only so many hours I can sit out here — I’m just baking like a cookie,” Michael said. “This ain’t easy.”
Michael, who previously helped restore the 1990 student murder memorial mural two years ago, said he understands that nothing lasts forever. But that hasn’t stopped him from putting his time — and his own paint — into the project.
“You know, everything in this world is temporary,” he said. “I don’t expect any of this stuff to be around ten years from now, but I sure hope so.”
Community feedback
Since Islam on Campus initially painted over the mural, other people rushed to retaliate via paint. The wall was painted over multiple times, with one message reading “Tom Petty’s, do not touch” in blue paint.
A new Facebook page was also created to encourage others to maintain Harrison’s legacy murals.
On social media platforms like Facebook and Reddit, community members gave mixed reactions to the paint battle. While some called Islam on Campus members “idiots” for not understanding the “unwritten rule” of the wall, others pointed out it’s an “open platform” the students couldn’t have known was special.
Chris Qualmann, a 67-year-old Gainesville resident and UF alumnus, was a close friend of Harrison’s and is a fan of Petty. Qualmann said seeing his friend's work be painted over gave him “a great deal of sadness.”
He acknowledged the students had every right to paint the wall. There are no formal rules governing the space, he said, and anyone who adds their work does so with the understanding that it may one day be covered.
Qualmann hopes to find a group of painters to recreate and honor Harrison’s memory.
“He would have sighed, taking a deep breath and said: ‘Well, it’s that time again, got to repaint it,’” he said. “He knew there was nothing he or anyone else could stop.”
Qualmann hopes Harrison and Petty will continue to be honored and another Petty mural will take its place, he said.
Andrew Schaer, a 49-year-old Gainesville resident, UF alumnus and owner of Hear Again Records, said he was disturbed by the amount of backlash from the community.
“Maybe we shouldn't act so entitled about it,” Schaer said. “It’s not like we don't already have a few of them [Petty murals] around town.”
Schaer said he doesn't expect UF students to understand what things the Gainesville community considers “sacred,” and he took no offense to their actions.
He believes there’s an understanding among Gainesville residents that the 34th Street Wall is a community canvas — a canvas anyone and everyone can make their own, he said.
“A community area for free expression and art, for me, is more sacred than the work of just one single person,” he said.
Contact Alabama Weninegar at aweninegar@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @AlabamaW40513.
Contact Sara Dhorasoo at sdhorasoo@alligator.org.
Alabama Weninegar is a first-year journalism major and The Alligator's Spring 2026 University General Assignment Reporter. She also works a part-time job at Wyatt's Coffee downtown. In her free time, she enjoys watching her favorite shows on a rainy day or re-reading the Twilight series.
