ChalkFest 2012

This is pretty awesome. Great thinking outside the box by the people of the 500 block.

Ive never seen anything like it.

While I applaud his sidewalk art, I hope that he is connected with a studio/gallery and creating some more permanent types of art for sale.

If I were the Buffalo News or a weekly, I want to snap him up for cartoons or illustrations.

I just love it when the wonderful people of our city get highlighted.

(not the politicians, or the rich, or the wealthy, or the powerful, or the criminals, or the addicts...just the everyday dignities and self esteem of the people who live here and the natural talents they possess to make Buffalo quality of life a better place)

Yeah when I move back I'm seriously getting in to this...I still have my ribbon from chalkwalk in Lewiston in 92 haha

Why did they schedule this for the same weekend as the long-established Lewiston Chalk Walk?

Wow I had no idea Danger...good question

There are a number of reasons why this event was scheduled for the weekend that it was. As every one on this site knows this area is inundated with festivals, feasts and lawn fetes. When planning this, the committee wanted to avoid the major happenings such as Allentown Art in June, Taste of Buffalo in July, Erie County Fair in August and Wingfest in September. It was also the only weekend one of the main organizers was able to get off of work to be here. Last, when the idea arose to do a chalkfest, no one on the committee had heard of this being done in this area. Neither did any of our friends or families. By assumption that none of us or our acquaintances had ever heard of the Lewistown event, it must not be promoted; whether by choice or not, I don't know. As I have never been to Lewistown Chalk, I don't know what attractions they have to offer. What I do know is that we have secured a major 3-D chalk artist to come to our area and draw for us. (something new to the area) There will be other activities and events for the kids and adults.(hopscotch, skully, storybook and beer tent, music and street entertainers) This event will be heavily promoted as time gets nearer with coverage from a local TV station as well as some publications. For more information or to see all we will have to offer, visit our website at www.chalkfestbuffalo.com

As someone who has also scheduled public events, I am well aware of the difficulty in scheduling something new against the existing major events. Lawn fetes do not count.

The community also suffers from a lack of an annual upcoming calendar listing the major events to assist in these efforts. (Hey VBN, are you listening?)

If you are trying to create a new event, I suggest you perform some basic research of the major media sources. The Lewiston Chalk Walk is well publicized closer to its date, and outside of your circle, is well-known. For example, last year Buffalo Spree named it one of it's Hot Five in its July/August issue. So it's not obscure. It is in its 28th year and is viewed by more than 25,000 people annually.

Lewiston features competition amongst high school teams from both sides of the border, but just on Saturday. The Buffalo event is for school children and professionals over two days. Maybe you can invite the Lewiston participants to the Buffalo event the next day.

great idea! the sidewalks are so wide you might as well make art on them!

so, next year, schedule it to coincide with the chicken wing festival. give wing eaters something else to do downtown.

I cannot wait for this one! The artwork is awe-some! I haven't heard the word 'skully' in 45 years! Rock On!

Is it really that big of a problem that this is the same weekend as the Lewiston event? Who knows, there might be some chalk art fans coming in from out of town who will be thrilled to have two events to visit on the same trip. I would view it more as synergy than conflict.

I will definitely try to check this one out with my family.

(And three cheers trying to get kids exposed to street games like hopscotch and skully! I think it is one of the great shames of our society that kids just don't play outside like they used to.)

In checking out both websites, I see these two festivals as two entirely different venues. The Lewiston festival is the Lewiston Festival of the arts and the chalk competition is a part of the whole venue. It is a competition of teams creating art on the sidewalk for festival goers to view. The Buffalo Chalkest on Main Street focuses on Chalk as the art medium and is the main part of this event. It also allows for more participation for event goers, whether they want to join in a competition or just go to free draw. Add in some of the sidewalk games mentioned and it seems the Main street event is leaning more towards an urban flair, as it should be, on Main street.
I see no conflict and think both festivals should be checked out.
And thanks to all the planneers and organizers of all the festivals we have over the summer. I'm sure it's not an easy task. Keep up the good work.