Chalk
Art
Walk
2006

Even though traveling to Hillyard have been made difficult by the Haven St. repaving project, the usual antique hunters and blue collar workers were joined in Hillyard today by artists and hot rods.  The sidewalks of the historic downtown Hillyard business core were awash with color and the laughter of children when the 9^th annual ChalkArtWalk began at 10 a.m.  The first 100 participants received free t-shirts featuring last year’s winning artwork along with their free chalk.  ChalkArtWalk is a completely free event put on by the Hillyard Festival Association.  One hundred and fifty artists put chalk to sidewalk and in at least one case stuccoed  wall for the handicapped (thanks B & B Junk Co.).  With prizes for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place in 5 different age categories and overall Best-Of-Show, ChalkArtWalk is not just a fun event, though a lot of fun was had as usual.  This year’s theme was “Magic” and it inspired a plethora of different designs this year, from dragons and castles to disembodied hands doing card tricks to more abstract designs.  The people of Hillyard rarely get to flex their artistic muscles but on this one day, every shopkeep and domestic engineer has a chance to sit next to a child and share different colors of chalk and let their imagination come out on concrete.

The event featured music brought to you by Disco Bob of the Nu Groove in Market Street Market; the Hillyard Festival Association’s hard working entertainment committee chairperson.  All three acts were folk-bluesy style soft rock of three different flavors that were a nice distraction from the sound of the traffic slowed on Market to view the artwork.  The day began with the beautiful voice of Kristen Marlo, whose acoustic country/folk style reminded the author of Jewel when she first came out (which the author thinks is a good thing).  She took time to sign autographs and tour the artwork after singing and even autographed a limited edition non-labeled CD for yours truly.  (Can you tell I’m a new fan?)  She was followed by Mark Ward, a young man accompanied by a young lady named Chelsey on violin.  Their calm and rhythmic tones were perfect for midday.  Finally Life of Reilly took the stage at a quarter after 1 p.m. and turned up the beat a little.  The brothers finished off the day entertaining those frantically trying to finish before the 3 p.m. deadline and those patiently waiting for the judging to finish with their blues laced rock including covers of Green Day and other popular modern bands and some great original tunes.

Over in oft forgotten east Hillyard the Land of Ozz hot rod shop sponsored a car show and swap meet adding old Chevy Bel Airs and Ford Thunderbirds to the flurry of activity in Hillyard this past weekend.  The hard-Saturday-workin’ small businessmen in Hillyard enjoyed the sites and sounds of old hot rods in their neighborhood, displacing the usual quiet of an east Hillyard Saturday

At the end of the day, after the judging by Mayor Dennis Hession, County Commissioner candidate Bonnie Meager and ChalkArtWalk winner from the two previous years Michelle Fox the winners were announced to a small crowd.  Newcomer Bill Blair won best of show with his beautiful rendering of a castle atop a bank of clouds, with a banner across the bottom that reads, “The Magic Within.”  The first place artists were: ages 0-5, Teighan Saiz; ages 6-10, Lorretta Guertin; ages 11-15, Jaia Moore; ages 16-20, Melissa Russell and in the over 21 age category, Linda Tacner.  The Hillyard Festival Association hopes everyone had fun and enjoyed the art, music and Hillyard pride in the downtown Hillyard business core and would like to thank their sponsors for making this all possible: ACES E-Z-Go, Cliff’s Quality Auto, Country Homes Reality, Greenburo, Howe’s Auto Service, Ma arker’s Café and Signs for Success.

Click Here for the 2006
ChalkArtWalk Photo Gallery

Winner's List:

Best Of Show:
Bill Blair

Age 0-5:
1st place- Teighan Saiz
2nd place- Timmy Miracle
3rd place- Jaelyn "Lil Bit" Schatz

Age 6-10:
1st place- Lorretta Guertin
2nd place- Jordan Lohstroh
3rd place- Katy Anderson

Age 11-15:
1st place- Jaia Moore
2nd place- Logan Hatcher
3rd place- Wave Quinn

Age 16-21:
1st place- Melissa Russell
2nd place- Shyana
3rd place- Alaynah Hardesty

Age 21+:
1st place- Linda Tacner
2nd place- Bonnie Avery
3rd place- Paul Feldmeth