Excited and grateful artists assembled on Thursday at a pre-event party to place faces with names and celebrate the return of what has been called the world’s largest street painting festival: The Pasadena Chalk Festival, which will once again festoon Paseo Colorado with hundreds of unique art pieces this weekend.
“I gotta tell you I’m really excited because we’ve formed friendships throughout the years, and some of us have been doing this for many, many years,” said chalk artist Liz Espinosa, who has participated in the festival almost since its beginning in 1993.
“We have a lot of good friendships that have developed,” she added, “and we do a lot of other events together, but it’s really nice to come back to the place where it all started.”
Longtime Chalk Festival Managing Director Patricia Hurley, of the Lightbringer Project, was ecstatic Thursday as she thanked nearly a hundred chalk artists and friends gathered to celebrate the festival.
About 400 more chalk artists are on their way to Pasadena for the Festival’s Saturday start.
Asked what visitors can expect this weekend, Hurley said, “I think they can expect amazing art because artists have been in their studios working all during COVID. And they can expect really interesting images of murals.”
Hurley also pointed out that the event would also feature a wide range of cultures and languages and styles.
“California’s a very diverse place, so it’s the mix of all that diversity that really makes the event so special and truly an international event,” she said.
Along with the featured artists, this year’s event will also include a Bazic KidzLand where children can experience the Chalk Festival, chalking on Bazic’s chalkboards and creating arts and crafts. Father’s Day-themed origami crafts will also be available.
Bazic Kidz Land also features two original coloring pages specially made for this event by a Veteran Chalk Artist for the kids to color.
Not only chalk, and not only artists, and not only kids, but this year’s festival will naturally include music throughout the weekend:
The Live Music Lineup
Saturday, June 18:
2 pm – 3 pm
Taylor Plenn (Jazz)
3:30pm – 4:30pm
The Carlos Ordiano Trio (Latin Jazz)
5 pm – 6 pm
La Güera Chakaloza Y Sus 5 Animales(Norteño)
Sunday, June 19th:
3 pm – 4 pm
Rhythms of the Village Family Band(Nigerian Highlife Fusion)
4:45pm – 5:30pm
Lucas/Heaven (RnB/Jazz)
6 pm – 7 pm
Spaghetti Cumbia (Cumbia)
“This year, there are new artists, there are returning artists, and everyone’s so excited because they set aside this weekend all year long to see friends here,” Hurley explained. “Sometimes they don’t see each other until the very next year.”
And after two long pandemic years, the excitement and anticipation is palpable.
The Pasadena Chalk Art Festival, June 18 and 19, 2022 at The Paseo. The event is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. More information is available at www.pasadenachalkfestival.org.
