Last year’s inaugural Chalkfest brought with it a fun and funky mix of graffiti, food trucks, dancing, hopscotching, and of course chalk drawing. The event was a huge success, and organizers have been building up Chalkfest 2013 ever since. “Chalk it up to Buffalo!” stated 2012 co-organizer Don Warfe. “The huge success of ChalkFest 2012 was mainly due to the participation of Buffalonians and their desire to resurrect downtown. We had nearly 4000 viewers that strolled the sidewalks gazing at the incredible art drawn by children, those young at heart, artists and amateurs.”
The 2013 Chalkfest event should be even more inspirational. With one year under their belt, organizers are anticipating even higher turnouts, better art, and a few surprises along the way. “This year we, the 500 Block Committee of Main Street, are back and hosting our second annual Chalkfest Buffalo 2013!” said festival organizer John Volpe’. “As new festival organizers, we learned from some of our mistakes last year and are hoping to offer a more dynamic, organized event that will be enjoyed by all, artists and spectators, adults and children.
“Chalkfest Buffalo 2013 will be held the weekend of August 3rd and 4th on the 500 block of Main street. As we did last year, we welcome world renowned 3-D chalk artist Michael Macaulay and he has promised to add even more excitement. Michael and his family so enjoyed our festival, he actually asked to be considered for a return performance. And he has done many chalk festivals around the country and world.
“Last year our local artists illustrated Little Red Riding Hood and the story was narrated as our visitors were able to walk page to page. This year, we are tackling Alice in Wonderland, a true classic and with its outlandish characters should give our artists plenty of material to work with. To keep the “Alice” theme alive, we have added activities based on the story and the children can enjoy a tea party, where they will have tea with the Mad Hatter and be asked to paint the roses red. There will also be a hat making activity where they will be taught to make hats from newspaper and we are offering an activity where each child will be able to make a piece of sidewalk chalk from scratch and take it home. Along with this we have secured three musical acts, 4 dance acts, food trucks and vendors.”
This year the beneficiary is Young Audiences of Western New York. To see all that Chalkfest has to offer, please visit the website chalkfestbuffalo.com.