Chalk Walk Festival

MAIN STREET BARTOW, INC.

BARTOW CHALK WALK

OCTOBER 2ND AND 3RD –

SATURDAY & SUNDAY 9:00AM – 5:00PM

Award winning Main Street Bartow, Inc., the second oldest Main Street program in Florida, announces a returning cultural arts event, with returning event sponsor, Frost Law Firm, presenting “Chalk Walk” Festival – Polk County’s only professional chalk art event. “Chalk Walk” is set for October 2nd and 3rd in Polk’s Capital City, Bartow.

“We look forward to rolling out our chalk painting sidewalks as the canvases for artistic expressions that will come alive with color, energy, vibrancy and a unique art form that continues in popularity for artists, and captivates art lovers from all over the state,” said Chalk Walk organizer, Trish Pfeiffer.

Centrally located in Bartow at the crossroads of Broadway Avenue (Hwy. 98) and Main Street at Ft. Blount Park, the second annual Chalk Walk Festival provides a look at a fascinating art form from 16th Century Italy that was created by those who paid tribute to the “Madonna” icon – drawn profusely upon the sidewalks to honor her.

A new generation of street painters have sprung up, and they travel from city to city, and festival to festival, creating chalk artwork that hardly lasts longer than the handful of days required to create them. 

This is a two-day event starting on Saturday morning.

Interesting to note is that the sidewalk art does not immediately spring into existence. It is carefully planned by the artists, who arrive with preliminary sketches, grids and paintings that they will turn into large-scale art. The art blocks are measured and planned by the event organizers, and even cracks and differences of elevation make a difference when the concrete is your canvas, Pfeiffer said.

Fort Blount Park is the perfect medium for their expressions.

Over the two days, the artists will be blocking, filling in, blending, contouring, shading until their work is complete. Festival goers will vote on their favorites. Awards are Sunday at 3:00 p.m. as the artists will have finished their work starting with the “Sponsor’s Choice,” awarded by presenting sponsor, John & Terry Frost from the Frost Law Firm; followed by the “People’s Choice Award.”

Bartow is extending its famous hometown hospitality to 25+ artists from near and far.

Other Chalk Walk Festival sponsors are: Patel, Greene & Associates; Citizens Bank and Trust; and Home Solution Lenders.

For sponsor information, (this year, or next), please call Pfeiffer at 863/640-1024. “We are thrilled to bring this two-day community event to Polk County’s Capital City. This is a very exciting art form. We look forward to everyone joining us,” Pfeiffer said.