Home is Where the Heart is

They say that home is where the heart is.

Think about this: one of the first questions we often ask someone when we meet them, right after we learn their name, is, “Where’s home for you?”

People will go to great lengths to express their pride for and love of their hometowns. For some, an annual trip “home” to see friends is an absolute necessity and for others, it’s a matter of recreating the hometown experience in a new town. You might choose to decorate your home with photos of Chicago’s iconic skyline or drink your morning coffee from an infamous “I ❤ NY” coffee mug. And then, there’s the license plate that inevitably always seems to end-up on the wall of your new garage – we’ve all seen them while driving around our Wellen Park neighborhoods. These small pieces of colorful aluminum connect our residents to their former hometowns and smile-inducing, feel-good memories.

Where You Belong is an art collaboration between Barry Thorne and his wife, Clare Harvey. Both are local artists and also teach art classes at the North Port Art Center. Clare is a well-known muralist and Barry specializes in assemblage artwork. This husband-wife pair combined their talents to create a 3D art display in Wellen Park’s Welcome Center.

Wellen Park’s license plate wall is a place to reflect upon your original hometown and your new “home base.” The concept of belonging and community is an essential part of what makes Wellen Park home to so many people from so many different places.

Your hometown will always hold a special place in your heart because it had a huge part in making you who you are today. Now, you can pay homage to … WELLEN PARK, WHERE YOU BELONG.