The Butterfly That's Almost Gone — mural in Waco, Texas
A stop on the Waco's Walls trail

43The Butterfly That's Almost Gone

The reclaimed-wood butterfly & the Velvet Taco crest — 1021 S Jack Kultgen ExpyMURAL

One wall shouts TACOS in a gilded frame. The other is a butterfly quietly returning to the wood it was painted on.

At the stroll's far south end, one taco shop runs two completely opposite walls. Street side: the crest — VELVET TACO in an ornate parlor-mirror frame, pink flourishes, stars, pure carnival-barker confidence on grey block. It's a logo and it knows it, and as logos go it's a good one.

But walk around the corner. The other wall is built from salvaged, sun-greyed planks, and painted across them — in teals and corals gone quiet with weather — is a huge butterfly that is slowly, gracefully losing its argument with the woodgrain. Every year the boards drink in a little more of it. Nobody retouches it. That's the beauty: one wall is an advertisement, permanent and loud; the other is a painting on borrowed time, and the borrowed time is the art. See it now, whatever year you're standing in. It has never been this faded, and it will never be this bright again.

📍 Walk me there See it on the trail map

More views

The Butterfly That's Almost Gone — The butterfly, sinking into the boards
The butterfly, sinking into the boards
The Butterfly That's Almost Gone — The crest around the corner, shouting
The crest around the corner, shouting

Is this your wall?

This page is how people find this piece — and it has room for your name on it. If you own the building, made the art, or want to welcome visitors standing in front of it, we would love to put your story here too.

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