Community drawn to Chalk the Walk event

MOUNT VERNON - Down the entirety of Mount Vernon's Main Street, attendants can only see chalk. 8x10 square upon square, all with different colors, styles, and a different chalk-stained person attached to the work. They are what make up the city's ninth annual 'Chalk the Walk,” which lets anyone interested create their own work of art or recreation with chalk.

Roughly 90 artists will participate in the event, bringing around 6,000 people for tourism as well. Matt Siders, Mount Vernon Director of Parks and Recreation and event committee member, said the event is really about bringing the community together, while being able to show visitors the town as well.

'It's just huge for the community,” said Siders, who has been involved in the event for four years. 'And it's extremely important to share what our town is about: vibrant, volunteerism, community.”

Participants traveled beyond Iowa to participate in the event. Charlotte Condie, a resident of Madison, WI who has been doing chalk art for four years, was not expecting the size of Chalk the Walk.

'I was surprised, it's a small town but a lot of people are here,” Condie said, adding her opinion about the importance of these chalk events. 'The idea that you can see art happening right in front of you is pretty cool. Everyone needs a form of self-expression, and this brings people together.”

Others participated in the event simply because it allowed them to do something reminiscent of their childhood.

'It lets me be creative,” said 15-year-old Mallory Roudabush. 'Now I'm older and don't play with chalk, but this is a reason to play with it without being weird.”

Children also got to join in the experience with their parents or siblings - something Nicole Zoe Miller, whose six-year-old daughter accompanied her in making her creation, said was important to allow them to do if parents wanted to foster their children's creativity,

'She's a little mini-me artist,” Miller said. 'This lets us have a little mother-daughter time. They need to be exposed to art as much as possible so they don't lose their creativity, and they see adults doing it.”

This is just one event that contributes to the large art community in the city, which Roudabush said has been around for quite some time.

'There's lots of musicals, and Chalk the Walk, and the art festival every year,” she said. 'I think Mount Vernon is full of fine arts, and this just shows the beauty of art and that is can go beyond just a painting on a wall.”

Chalk the Walk will continue through Sunday night.