Chalk festival invites all ages to color downtown Le Mars

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) Erica Manning and her daughter Isabella Manning, 4, try their hand at chalk art downtown Le Mars. Their art will join that of everyone that comes out for Le Mars' first chalk festival, Sept. 19 and 20. People of all ages are invited to add to the art on the sidewalks and streets that weekend and enjoy live music and food vendors. [Click to enlarge]

Remember sitting in the driveway and making chalk pictures?

The Le Mars Area Chamber of Commerce's First Annual Chalk Art Festival next week is a chance to relive those childhood moments or create new ones.

The chalk art festival will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19 and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20 in downtown Le Mars.

Artists of all kinds from children to adults and amateurs to professionals are invited to stake-out a square to fill with a chalk drawing beginning at the Olson Cultural Event Center and progressing along four blocks of downtown Le Mars streets.

Almost every downtown business will create chalk drawings in front of their establishment.

The stores will also have specials next week starting Wednesday and continuing through Sunday, when they will be open 1 to 4 p.m.

That's a rarity as many of the businesses are closed Sundays, said Mary Reynolds, Main Street manager.

"We are really glad they are willing to support it," she said. "They will be drawing on their sidewalks in front of their stores and we're going to be drawing on four different streets in downtown Le Mars."

The chalk festival will be more than a downtown event as businesses like Taco John's, Family Table and 4 Brothers Bar and Grill on Business 75 will also be making chalk drawings in front of their establishments, Reynolds said.

In addition to chalk art, the festival will also include musical entertainment that will change every 45 minutes on Saturday and feature The Browns playing Christian music Sunday afternoon, Reynolds said.

"People can come and go. It's a two-day festival," she said. "Once they buy their square and get their chalk, they can draw, go down and listen to some music, eat at food vendors and come back and draw."

There will be about nine food vendors east of the Olson Cultural Event Center's stage on First Avenue Northeast between the Knights of Columbus Hall and the center.

Local artists like Lisa Scheitler and Jill Mitchell, both of Le Mars, will also try their hand at creating chalk pictures.

Neither woman has done any chalk drawing other than on the sidewalk in their driveways.

"This should be kind of interesting for me as well," Scheitler said. "I am doing my vision of Jesus."

She's also getting her family involved in the chalk festival. Her 12-year-old son will be doing his own square while her 5-year-old son will be working with his dad on another.

"I think they're just kind of waiting to see what happens," Scheitler said of her family's involvement.

She, on the other hand, is excited about the chalk festival and what it will bring to Le Mars.

"I think everybody's going to enjoy seeing the artwork splashed all over town," Scheitler said. "I think it's going to be very interesting to see all these different designs."

Mitchell said she's never been to a chalk festival so it will be a new experience for her.

"It sounds like a fun way to get people downtown and involved in the arts," Mitchell said.

Both women are also looking forward to seeing guest artists, Robin VanLear and Jesse Rhinehart, husband and wife from Cleveland, Ohio and Mary Campbell, of Bertram, Iowa.

VanLear coordinates the Cleveland Museum of Art's Chalk Festival and Rhinehart is a three-dimensional artist.

"I've never seen a three-dimensional artist up close," Scheitler said. "We're really looking forward to watching that happen."

Campbell's known for her drawing of President Barack Obama's head.

VanLear, Rhinehart and Campbell will demonstrate chalk art techniques and create their own large masterpieces at the Olson Cultural Event Center.

Chalk will stop being sold at 5 p.m. Saturday, but people can continue to draw on the streets until 10 p.m. and again when the festival reopens at noon on Sunday.

Two Le Mars Police Officers have been hired to provide security from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Saturday into Sunday, Reynolds said.

"The art will stay put until the first rain showers come through," she said.

Reynolds explained that many chalk artists enjoy the actual drawing process more than maintaining the finished piece.

People can pre-register for the chalk festival by stopping in the chamber office, 50 Central Ave. S.E., Le Mars, or they can sign up either day of the event at the Olson Cultural Event Center.

Up to four people can work on a chalk square. Participants can choose the size of chalk they want to use, which will correspond with an appropriate size square for drawing.

Children under 12 must be accompanied by a supervising adult.

The chalk art festival was the brainchild of Reynolds who attended one in Mount Vernon while visiting her son and his family.

"I loved the idea," she said. "When I got the job (in Le Mars) in November, that was one of the first things I wanted to bring here."

Reynolds proceeded to get the community's support eventually convincing the Main Street Organizational Committee to take on the project.

"We do hope to make this an annual event, and make it bigger and bigger," Reynolds said.

As the chalk festival becomes an annual event, Reynolds said, she would like to see it draw in more professional artists, but at the same time keep the festival geared toward family.

"We want it so that all people can be creative," she said. "We want every family to sit down and draw and make a memory."