November 05, 2026
Michaela Althouse/PhillyVoice
A mural of a raccoon eating a soft pretzel has been looming over Webb Street Playground since 2017.
Olde Richmond residents are raising money in hopes to restore a popular mural of a raccoon that watches over the Webb Street Playground.
The artwork, which depicts the creature taking a bite of a soft pretzel, was created in 2017. But nearly 10 years later, the stucco wall beneath is in need of repairs, and large sections of the paint are chipping off.
Natalie Shaak, who owns the home that houses the mural, said the building used to have a carriage house when it was built in the 1860s, and the plaster behind where that once was is crumbling. On top of that, she said kids often throw basketballs against the wall, which has caused cracks in the paint.
To help, she's hosting a GoFundMe to raise $8,500 for the masonry work and to pay artist Evan Lovett to repaint the piece. Shaak said she hopes to get the wall repair done in December, which would require painting over a section approximately one story high.
When Shaak first bought her house 10 years ago, the wall overlooking the playground was blank. She thought it would be a good place for some art, and after failing to get a response from Mural Arts, she reached out to public art nonprofit Visual Urban Renewal and Transformation. Back then, she also set up a GoFundMe and was able to raise more than $4,000.
"They came back with the design, and I was just like, 'This is the coolest thing that has ever existed,'" Shaak said. "We went through putting it out, and within about two weeks' time, we were able to raise all the money from our local community to have the mural put up. And the artist, Evan Lovett, he was able to do the mural in one day, and we have an icon now."
Following the wall repairs, Lovett plans to prime the wall and add a stronger sealer in the hopes that his creation will last longer this time. In addition to his raccoon mural, Lovett is also the artist behind the 35-foot-tall pigeon in Fishtown, a pair of deer on a wall in East Falls, a squirrel munching on a SEPTA token in Norris Square and the painted ponies on the Kung Fu Necktie bar building.
So far, Shaak's been able to raise a little over $1,300. She plans to cover the cost of repairing the wall, if necessary, but she can't afford the cost of the insurance, primer, lift and paint to redo the mural on her own. Still, she's committed to getting it repainted, even if that means it takes a while longer to raise the money.
In the 10 years since it was created, Shaak said people often refer to the playground as Raccoon Park or use it as a landmark for a place to meet. Her young daughter, she said, likes to go out and say hello or good night to the mural, and older kids often stop for pictures. She called it the neighborhood's "North Star."
"The whole point about art is to bring joy and happiness to our community, bring some color, life and celebrate what is unique about Philadelphia and also our little neighborhood within the Kensington/Fishtown area," Shaak said.
The mural, she said, has also helped with reviving the playground space. She and some of her neighbors are working on establishing a Park Friends group to maintain the space and host cleanups and community events. Eventually, she hopes to address some of the grading issues at the site, too.
She wants it to feel like more than just "a rundown piece of equipment in a prime location," as she noted it's right near thoroughfare Aramingo Avenue, a school and a Wawa. The park, she thinks, really does serve the whole community — raccoon mural and all.
"Some have been in the neighborhood for generations, some of us are new to the neighborhood, some of us have been in the neighborhood for decades, but we all have something in common in this Philly pride," Shaak said. "I think that is one of the things that the raccoon represents, it doesn't matter who you are, we all can look at that and just kind of smile to ourselves, knowing that a mural like that couldn't exist anywhere else other than Philly."
