CRESTVIEW — Twenty artists who drew chalk art on downtown sidewalks Saturday said they'll be back if Sidewalk Mania! returns.
That could be sooner than expected. Event organizers want to hold another sidewalk event before summer's end, hopefully with better weather, increased turnout, more downtown merchants' participation and greater support from the Main Street Crestview Association.
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"The next time we organize this, we will work even closer with the businesses on Main Street so people can come and enjoy all of Main Street as well as watching our artists at work,” Main Street member and Friends of the Arts President Rae Schwartz said.
The event attracted artists of all ages, and a number of them said they learned some lessons along the way.
Adult category first-place winner Nick Belvin — who hadn't drawn sidewalk art since he was a kid — didn’t anticipate the challenges of the spot he chose to embellish with a colorful nautical motif.
“I think I picked the spot with the most rocks,” he said, lamenting rough aggregate embedded in the concrete panel he chose on Woodruff Avenue off Main Street.
Sarah Hawkins, whose pastel sunset drawing placed second, said the task required more chalk than she expected.
Youth category winner Douglas Black, 15, drew a subject close to his heart: “Dr. Who’s” TARDIS. The acronym for the doctor’s travel machine — disguised as a British police callbox — stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space.
For his first-place-winning art in the child category, Riley Sandoval, 10, also chose a subject from popular culture.
“I like to draw stuff from Pokémon,” he said.
The event was the brainchild of Main Street member April Meier, owner of the Pawsitively Scrumptious pet boutique.
“She did all the work and rounded up all the prizes,” Schwartz said. “All the competitors had a good time. Everyone I talked to said if we do it again, they’ll come back.”
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SIDEWALK ART WINNERS (must run but can be on jump)
Child Category
1st Riley Sandoval
2nd Presley Lenczyk
3rd Kalysta Laird
Youth Category
1st Douglas Black
Adult
1st Nick Belvin
2nd Sarah Hawkins
3rd Anna Summers
Email News Bulletin Staff Arts and Entertainment Editor Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Organizers: Main Street sidewalk art competition could return before fall