Welland has accumulated over 40 large outdoor murals on buildings throughout the downtown and canal corridor, making it one of the more substantial outdoor public art programs in Ontario. The murals were commissioned over several decades beginning in the 1970s and focus largely on the city's history — canal construction, the steel and textile industries, the multicultural communities that built the city — rather than purely decorative subjects. They are painted at substantial scale, many covering entire building facades.
A self-guided mural tour map is available from the city. The most concentrated stretch runs along King Street and the canal frontage near downtown. For anyone who appreciates public art or is interested in the social history of Great Lakes industry, it is a genuinely worthwhile hour on foot. The murals hold up better than most such programs; a fair number are well executed and specific enough to tell you something real about the place.