WORCESTER, Mass. - It’s the fans and players who bring Polar Park to life, but it’s Ryan Gardell who gives the park its Worcester flare.

“Wow, I get to be the guy?” Gardell said. “Someone has to paint it.”

Gardell calls it a hometown dream to score a big league job.  It’s not until he’s at the ballpark, creating art, when it all feels real. 

“They are letting me spray paint on the walls and paying me to spray paint on the walls,” Gardell said. “It just like blows my mind.”

The Worcester Red Sox handpicked Gardell for the job because of his other murals across the city. The 32-year-old has lived his entire life in the Worcester area and has seen the city change and grow into a place he’s proud of. 

What You Need To Know

  • Ryan Gardell is using his skills to give Polar Park a new look
  • The Worcester artist spray paints Worcester-themed murals across the ballpark
  • Gardell calls it a hometown dream to score a big league job
  • His work will be seen by thousands of fans each season

“When I grew up, (Worcester) didn’t have a good connotation,” Gardell said. “Like being from Worcester was not something I was necessarily proud of.”

His work will be seen by thousands of baseball fans each season. Each piece he does is about what Worcester means to him and what he hopes the city means to others.

“If I care about this place enough to spend all this time painting it all the time, then it must have something worth it,” Gardell said.  

So far, even his unfinished work, like his take of the city’s seal, is hitting it out of the park and making others proud too.

“Someone posted this online before I was even finished. They posted it last week, “Gardell said. “I guess I have some finishing touches, but that’s okay.”