Poughkeepsie artist Nestor Madalengoitia's bright and inviting mural "Welcome to the Hudson Valley" was unveiled at the Poughkeepsie Train Station on Tuesday, representing the first step in a new collaboration between Walkway Over the Hudson, Dutchess County Tourism, Metro-North Railroad and the City of Poughkeepsie to help encourage regional tourism.

The colorful 5' x 10' mural features the Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park while depicting scenes that have made Dutchess and Ulster Counties a major tourist attraction and accent the high quality of life in our region, including: the Hudson Valley Balloon Festival, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, and more. Renowned for his vivid depictions of people in historical settings, Mr. Madalengoitia's large scale murals can be found in several public and private settings in Poughkeepsie and other Hudson Valley locations.

"With gracious support from Anne and Fred Osborn of the E.A.S.T.E.R. Foundation, Walkway Over the Hudson was able to partner with Dutchess Tourism to commission one of the Hudson Valley's premier muralists to create this wonderful welcome for visitors," said Walkway Executive Director Elizabeth Waldstein-Hart. "This represents the first of what we hope will be many collaborative efforts to attract New York City Metro area tourists here via the Poughkeepsie Train Station."

Mary Kay Vrba, CTP, Director of Dutchess County Tourism said," We are very excited to continue our partnerships with Metro-North and the Walkway over the Hudson. The train station provides a gateway to Dutchess County and the Hudson Valley and all the wonderful activities the area has to offer."

The mural is located above the doors leading to the Train Station's upper level parking garage. Metro-North will work with Walkway Over the Hudson and Dutchess Tourism to add information and way finding at the Poughkeepsie Train Station in coming months. Large glass display cases near the upper parking area will be stocked with historical memorabilia, information on cultural, recreational and area sites. A large version of the recently updated Walkway Vicinity Map & Guide has been installed thanks to Luminary Publishing.

"This is all designed to lay the groundwork for Walkway's 21-story, high speed waterfront elevator that we're planning to construct next year," said Ms. Waldstein-Hart. "The waterfront elevator will be an attraction unto itself and we expect many people to come up from the New York Metro area through the Train Station so they can ride the elevator up to the Walkway."