On
Help revitalize Main Street on August 3rd and 4th at ChalkFest!
This
two day family festival focuses on the use of chalk as a medium for
art. This is an exciting format that brings thousands of people to Main
Street while remaining true to the mission of turning the 500 Block of
Main Street into an artistic and cultural destination.
Everyone is
welcome, professional sidewalk chalk artists, children of all ages who
simply wish to have fun, as well as adults, who may wish to try their
hand at sidewalk chalk, at the same time, enjoying the diversity of
downtown Buffalo, New York.
This free, family fun event will take place on the 500 Block of Main Street in Downtown Buffalo!
Young
Audiences is the main beneficiary and Chalkfest is looking forward to
collaborating with their talented staff.
With this collaboration,
Chalkfest will be able to offer more to the youth who will be attending,
especially teaching through the arts that Young Audience’s strives to
achieve. This type of alliance is the key to group ambitions, not only
referring to ChalkFest, but also our mission to bring people Downtown
and continue the rejuvenation of the city.
Celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2013, Young Audiences (www.yawny.org)
mission embraces the idea of making the arts a part of young people’s
lives in order to enhance their development as creative and productive
human beings. Located in the Central Library at One Lafayette Square,
Young Audiences goals and objectives also include the desire to promote
Downtown Buffalo.
Join ChalkFest as an entire city block is
transformed into a colorful playground with music, food, games and
various events for children and adults.
To view some pictures from Day 1, 2013, click here.
To view pictures of 2012, click here & here.
For more information or to reserve squares for fun or to compete, please visit www.chalkfestbuffalo.com.
ChalkFest Buffalo 2013
August 3rd & 4th, noon-6pm both days
Festival beneficiary
– Young Audiences of WNY (they will be receiving all proceeds and
donations made during the festival, this includes all the vendor fees
we collected but will not include water bottle sales as these are still
going to the SPCA). Sidenote: Young Audiences is trying to steer clear
of being referred to as YAWNY, which was their old “nickname”.
Sponsors (this continues to grow but these are the great folks who have donated or sponsored festival supplies so far):
The Fruitbelt Coalition, Inc.
Hyatt Regency Buffalo
Try-It
R&P Oak Hill Development
Viridian
Carmina Wood Morris, P.C.
Allpro Parking
Tetra Tech
M&T Bank
Sanderson Wealth Management
Delish!
Towne Auto
Dobmeier Janitor Supply, Inc.
Eastman
Alternate Information Systems
Wegmans
KeyBank
Main (ST)udios
500 Block Association
Festival Supporters:
Buffalo Place
The City of Buffalo
Food Vendors:
ECafe
The Black Market Food Truck
Amy’s Food Truck
Rolling Joe’s Café
East Park Pops
Merchant Vendors: There
are a variety of merchant vendors that will be attending. We will also
have the City of Buffalo Cosmetology Program which will be offering free
manicures (quick ones of course)…this is the newest adult education
program to come out of the city.
Live Music & Entertainment:
· Converge Dance Troupe
Activities:
· Hopscotch Tournament
· Double Dutch (mostly for the fun of it)
· Beer Tent
SPCA: They will be there with some animals (I believe kittens and dogs) for folks to adopt.
Literary Theme:
This year we decided to add a theme to the festival, taking it beyond
the live storybook, and thought Alice in Wonderland was the perfect
classic novel for us to work with, and the following are our “Alice”
themed activities:
· Michael Macaulay (http://www.michaelmacaulay.com) is joining us again this year and he will be drawing a 3D version of Alice falling down the rabbit hole.
· Alice’s Tea Party:
FOR FREE, although there is a limited space, both days we will be
hosting a “tea party” for the kids with cute little cups of juice and
treats donated by Delish! One of the 500 Block members will be dressing
up as the Mad Hatter and we are hoping to get someone there dressed up
like Alice. There will also be roses for the kids to color-in.
· Mad Hatter’s Hat Making: FOR FREE, although limited space, the kids will make paper hats and decorate them with chalk.
· Live Storybook: We
have broken down the story of Alice in Wonderland into ten squares,
this unfortunately meant we had to cut out part of the story but we were
limited on space and artists to do it all.
o David
Pierro, the ChalkFest 2012 Adult Artist Winner, will be creating the
cover page of the story, and then we have other local artists filling in
the rest.
o We
have been attempting to get a “celebrity” narrator but have not been
successful…Erin Carminas' brother read last year and was so amazing and captivated
everyone that he will be returning again this year!
o There
will be judging done for these squares, with a $250 prize, and there
was no age limit or requirements for interested artists (they just had
to contact us). We were also hoping to find “celebrity” judges for
this…not sure who will be judging yet though.
· Chalk Making: FOR FREE, although limited space, kids and adults will learn how to make handmade chalk!
Please contact Erin Carmina [ecarmina@gmail.com] for more information and during both days of the event.
