Greater Hillyard hosts 12^th Annual Chalk Art Walk in historic downtown 

Hillyard June 6th

Annual event will be last one on the historic district’s present sidewalks

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 Spokane, WA May 27, 2009  

This Saturday’s thirteenth Chalk Art Walk will be the last time the historic Hillyard sidewalks will serve as canvases for street artists and their fans in this renowned community event.  That’s because the 2009 streetscape project to renew the historic Market Street district will replace all the lumpy and cracked concrete with new, smooth sidewalks with colored trim designed to especially highlight the artists’ masterpieces.  Work on the street is scheduled to begin within the next few weeks.

Since 1996, the Hillyard Festival Association and other local organizations have staged this free competition for anyone who ever had a yen to write on a sidewalk with chalk.  Starting at 10:00 AM, contestants sign up for their own free sidewalk square and free chalk. They then have until mid-afternoon to complete their picture before judging. Participants are encouraged to bring their own chalks and fixative for a greater variety or more vibrant colors. Surface preparation and oil pastels are allowed and handmade chalks of brighter colors will be available at minimal cost.

This year’s theme, “Hillyard’s Future,” will be the basis for judging in the five age groups: 0 to 5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, and 21+ years old.  The theme is significant, because it relates to the City-funded long-range neighborhood planning effort that the Bemiss, Hillyard and Whitman are now pursuing as the City’s first joint-planning effort.  Funds from the neighborhoods’ Community Development funding were used to support successful grant requests for the streetscape improvements, and city funds combined with CD monies also are being used to fund the planning effort.   These two achievements were important in Greater Hillyard’s recent bid for Neighborhood of the Year, winning second place in the Neighborhoods USA national competition in the neighborhood partnerships category.

Marty Phanco, Hillyard Festival Chairman, emphasizes that the Chalk Art Walk contest is open to anyone, Free of Charge!  Originally designed for the neighborhood kids, the annual event also draws enthusiastic adult artists.  The winning entry is preserved, photographed, and the art decoration used as a logo on the next year’s Chalk Art Walk commemorative T-shirt.  Traditionally, each of the first 100 registered artists gets a free T-shirt depicting the previous year’s Theme winner.  In 2008, that theme was “Earth, Wind and Fire.”  This year’s theme T-shirt won’t be revealed until the day of the contest, June 6^th.

To enter, prospective artists can fill out an information form at Chalk Art Walk Headquarters, at the corner of Market Street and Queen Avenue in the Historic Hillyard district.  At the same time, participants and their fans can fill out opinion surveys as part of the long-range planning effort in the community.  This will be the last official use of the old US Bank Building at the site.  It will be demolished this summer to create the  $5.5million Market Street Station project, which will bring 38 new housing units plus retail spaces to the historic district in one of several modernization drives in the neighborhood. 

Chalk Art Walk judging is by a panel selected by the Hillyard Festival Committee, beginning about 2:30 PM, depending on progress and the numbers of artists.  Sensitive to the needs of parents and younger artists, Chalk Art Rules state that contestants will be judged on merit within age categories, need not be present to win, and can go home for lunch whenever they feel like it. 

Hillyard Chalk Art Walk winners become minor celebrities in Spokane, especially among collectors of unusual T-shirts.  The 2008winner’s design depicting the theme, “Earth, Wind and Fire” will first appear as the logo on 2009’s unique shirts.  The shirt color is not announced until the day of the contest, and the first 100 go free to registered contestants. The Festival Committee sells remaining shirts of the limited edition during the June 6^th contest.  Local commemorative T-Shirt collectors prize the garments for their rarity and unique souvenir value.  Some recent years’ designs are shown below.

For additional information, contact Marty Phanco at (509) 879-1450, Luke Tolley,  (509) 475-3509, or go to www.historic-hillyard.com.