Marietta Chalktoberfest 2017 and 2019, part 1

My trip to the Western North Carolina Mountains was to be my next post, but something came up.  I realized it was the weekend for the Chalk Festival on the Marietta Square.  If you go to the side of my blog and click on the chalk art festival category you can read on the earlier festivals I have attended in Marietta, GA, since 2013.  I also give more information on this event.  I missed the 2018 fest but was in Georgia for the weekend of the fest in 2017.  I never wrote a post on it though.  I'll start with the 2017 Chalktoberfest.  I had arrived from Nashville on the Saturday night and went to the fest on Sunday October 15, 2017.  From the parking area I walked first by the vintage automobile show.

The Marietta Police gave choices for a ride to those who had a few drinks, and their costs - (click on collage twice to enlarge.)

The chalk paintings had been drawn on the four streets around the Marietta Square.  But some artists had drawn theirs on standing boards as shown in the heading photo and those below.

There were ominous clouds starting to gather over the square and soon enough large drops of rain began falling.  Big rolls of plastic sheeting placed in the center of each street were quickly rolled over the chalk drawings.

But the rain did not last long.  The clouds were pushed away by the sun and we all came back to the streets.  A man with a blower was pressing the water past the plastic sheets.

I was pleased to go back to the street paintings as I had only taken a couple of photos so far.

As usual many people had brought their dogs.  I love dogs but don't have one, so I always stop to look at them.  Of course taking pictures of dogs means that legs and feet of their owners are included in the pictures!

Photos taken from ground level are distorted.  I asked the Marietta City Photographer to use my camera on his ladder and you can tell the difference below.

Even with the distortion these large-scale chalk drawings were dazzling.

I also enjoyed watching the artists creating these masterpieces on the pavement.

Their panoply of colorful chalks tempted my camera as well.

As its name indicates the Chalktoberfest takes place in October when Halloween is coming up as shown by the decorations on the square.

We even had a zombie-looking bride and groom walk by.

But there were more colorful chalk interpretations to see.

and more - (don't forget to click twice on collages to enlarge and see better.)

One of the chalk artists had a little card that she would wave.  It read" "Thank you for giving me a reason to smile today."

Here and there along the way were other signs on kindness.

Kindness matters, indeed.  If humanity would go beyond hatred and fear, maybe world peace could be achieved.

"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."        -Desmond Tutu, South African theologian and human-right activist, born in 1931.

I'll stop on these good words, and will show the 2019 Chalktoberfest in part 2.

More to come ....