BAY CITY, MI – Downtown Bay City is about to explode in color this weekend as a popular chalk art festival is set to return.
The Bay City Chalk Walk Art Festival is being held this year on Saturday, Aug. 12 from noon to 6 p.m. on Center Road and Water Street in downtown. The event is an annual celebration of art and community through the colorful yet temporary medium of sidewalk chalk.
These pieces aren’t your typical sidewalk chalk drawings. The artists create immersive pieces of art each year with vibrant, deep colors and thoughtful subject matter. Sometimes they even play with perspective in a way that creates mind-bending optical illusions.
During the event, Water Street will be closed between 5th and 6th Street and Center Road over to Saginaw Street to create a space for art, music and a children’s activity area. The children’s area will feature games, bubbles and chalk for the younger artists to enjoy.
According to organizers, over 40 artists will gather on Saturday to fill the street with chalk art and to compete for prizes. The top prize is $500 for the adult categories, with a 2nd place prize of $200 and a third place prize of $100. There is a $150 people’s choice award prize as well as $150 for the most interactive piece award.
The event will wrap up with a special mural unveiling ceremony a 6:30 p.m. at the Wenonah Park Friendship Shell. This is being done to celebrate the many artists that have been busy this summer beautifying Bay Ciy with various murals across town including artists Kayla Peake-Trautner, Marielle Bibana Wilson, Trinity DeCaire, Marcelo Jourdan, Jazzmyn Zylina Benitz, Shannon Hardy, Jordan Taylor and Sean Gallagher.
Here is the event schedule:
- 8:30 a.m., check-in starts
- 10 a.m., artists may begin working
- Noon, opening remarks
- 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., kids scavenger hunt and free coloring pages available at Studio 23/The Arts Center
- Noon to 5 p.m., craft bar and free paint n’ take craft at Studio 23/The Arts Center
- Noon to 5:30 p.m., kids’ activity area open
- 2 p.m., live music by The JR Band
- 3 p.m., children’s art awards
- 3:30 p.m., live music by Hiding Salem
- 4:30 p.m., teen art awards
- 5:30 p.m., adult/people’s choice awards
- 6 p.m., live music by Vera Noir
- 6:30 p.m., mural unveiling.
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