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'We Won the Cup': Mural Celebrates Blackhawks Stanley Cup Victory

  This week's rainy weather delayed the repainting of the mural, which has become a neighborhood landmark.
'We Won the Cup': Mural Celebrates Blackhawks Stanley Cup Victory
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PORTAGE PARK — The Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup victory is now official in Portage Park — the huge mural along Milwaukee Avenue has been repainted to celebrate the team's triumph over the Boston Bruins.

Although the work was delayed for several days by this week's rainy weather, Ches and Alex Perry took advantage of the sunny morning Thursday to paint "2013 Stanley Cup Champion" across the top of the 20-foot by 30-foot mural and "We won the cup!" along the bottom of the brick wall at  4251 N. Milwaukee Ave.

"I never thought they'd win it like that," said Ches Perry, of the the Blackhawks' come-from-behind victory that saw them score two goals in 17 seconds in the last minute of regulation in Game 6 on Monday night.

"I thought there was going to be a Game 7, and then I thought it was going to overtime."

The father and son turned the brick wall — which used to be an advertisement for their Jefferson Park business Right Way Signs — into a giant mural rooting on the Blackhawks as they prepared to take the ice against the Bruins.

"We wouldn't have done this for any other sports team," Alex Perry said. "That moment was amazing."

The ultimate would be if the Stanley Cup visited the mural on its victory tour, Alex Perry said.

"That would be amazing," Alex Perry said.

The red, black and white mural featuring the Blackhawks' Indianhead logo, which is now a neighborhood landmark, has boosted business — and made Ches Perry a bit of a local celebrity, Alex Perry said.

It was surreal to be recognized at an Evanston McDonald's, Ches Perry said.

"He came up to me and said, 'You're the sign guy!'" Ches Perry said.

But all that extra business will have to wait until next week. With the Blackhawks victory parade scheduled for Friday through downtown Chicago, both Alex and Ches Perry plan to be one of several million Chicagoans thronging the parade route.

"It is a mandatory holiday at Right Way Signs," Alex Perry said, laughing.