Families line the River Common to draw at Saturday’s ChalkFest, hosted by the Riverfront Parks Committee. Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
A drawing done in support of the SPCA at ChalkFest. Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
Wilkes-Barre resident Mike Patla drew Comic Book Guy from ‘The Simpsons’ to sum up his thoughts about 2020. Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — Not even COVID-19 could put the brakes on one of the Wilkes-Barre Riverfront Parks Committee’s most popular and time-honored annual events.
For the 11th year, ChalkFest returned to the River Common along the Susquehanna River, bringing families and individuals of all ages out to decorate the Common with a variety of different artwork.
“We weren’t sure about holding ChalkFest this year, given the circumstances,” said Riverfront Parks Committee executive director John Maday. “But we finally decided that, if we could do it safely, we should give it a try.”
Safety is the number one priority for these events, said Maday, and the care and precautions taken by Maday and his volunteer staff were evident on Saturday.
Masks were required, and social distancing was enforced — which, given how far the sidewalk on the riverbank extends, wasn’t much of a problem.
The turnout was excellent, as families continued to file down to the Common, chalk in hand provided by the volunteers, as ChalkFest extended throughout the early part of Saturday afternoon.
“We were worried that people might not show up at all,” Maday said. “But we started around 11 a.m., and immediately we had folks coming in.”
Attendees are invited to draw anything they wanted, but this year’s ChalkFest had a theme to it: expression of how everyone felt about this challenging year.
“I like how creative everyone could be here,” said Mike Patla, a Wilkes-Barre resident who, by his own count, has attended 10 of the 11 ChalkFests so far.
Patla took the theme to heart with his artwork: a depiction of “Comic Book Guy” from “The Simpsons,” mask on, with the caption “Worst. Year. Ever.”
“The reference might go over some heads, but I think it’s perfect,” Patla said.
Across the Common, there was plenty to see. Drawings of flowers, animals and messages covered the sidewalk.
Some were specific in their intent; one drawing read “Black Lives Matter” and another was written in support of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) with the slogan “Adopt, Don’t Shop.”
For Steve Maakestad and his daughter Juliette, it was more about just having a fun afternoon.
“This is our first time here, we saw it on Facebook,” Maakestad said. “We were running some errands and I thought we could stop in for a little while.”
Juliette was hard at work and didn’t have time for questions, drawing her dog Charlie chasing a bird through some grass.
“We’ve got plenty of room here, I wasn’t too worried,” Maakestad said in reference to COVID-19.
Maday said that the crowd was a mix of first-time ChalkFest attendees and some familiar faces.
“We had one family come through before, they said that they’d been bringing their daughter since she was four years old, since we started doing ChalkFest,” Maday said.
“People have grown up with us here, and as long as they keep showing up, we’ll be here.”
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ChalkFest as popular as ever - Wilkes Barre Times-Leader
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