A "Successful" Chalk Event.

I drove to Wellman on Wednesday and tried to prepare for the Thursday Chalk Event that the local Library was throwing for the town.   There were a number of other events going on, But I was asked to be in Charge of the chalk thing.   Guess I must have had a reputation back in the day.   And since Chalking on the sidewalk is a rather fun thing for me,   I decided to accept the offer.  

The director  asked me what I needed to prepare and I gave a few tips.   Chalk obviously.   But I actually had plenty for everyone in my own personal stock.   They bought a case of the sidewalk mix as a back up, just in case.   And a few extra charcoal briquettes.  I found a few old dry erasers and commandeered them for my own selfish purpose.   In other words, we had plenty of supplies to get the job done. 

I woke up early and drew the basic outline in charcoal.   And then I waited.   I think the event started at noon and I had everything set up by 8 A.M.     So...  Kind of a long wait.  

But eventually the director came to chat with me and the rest of the staff fired up some hotdogs and set out some gift baskets for the kids.   I think they figured there were over 140 kids that showed up. ( based on hot dogs missing.) That was more than I was thinking at least. 

None of the usual suspects showed up. ( my inner circle of Chalk kids who used to help me.)  Instead, there were a lot of younger kids that I had never seen before.   Many of them had no idea what to do or even how to start.  It seems rather simple, but using the chalk and the charcoal is a game changer when to comes to blending colors and outlining your designs.  Luckily, there were also a number of adults there to help show the kids  how things worked.  ( Adults seem to catch on a little bit faster.)  

I'm not sure if the entire Mural was 100% completed, because I left after about an hour.   I had to get back to Wisconsin and wanted to get a head start while there was daylight.  The librarians sent me a number of pics of the kids with the mural still incomplete. The event was only to last an hour, but the kids could stay as long as they wanted.   And a Mural of this size would take me an entire WEEK to complete!  ( I have done similar sized themes at the same place before.) But having an Army of Minions certainly helps.   AND having parents helping the minions is a Force Multiplier!  ( Some Army Lingo there....)  I left all of my chalk there for the kids to use.  I figured they would get better use out of it than I have over the last year.   Before I came to Wisconsin, I left over half of my "left over" chalk to the school.   I heard they used it up and you could see all of the designs they drew around the building and adjacent golf coarse sidewalk.   That made me happy.  

So now I'm back in Wisconsin and I enjoyed a peaceful day of catch up.   I ran two loops to Parkside and back. ( It could be as far as 13 miles!) and did  walked around the forest this afternoon looking for Mushrooms. ( I found nothing!)   The big thing is that my legs no longer hurt after I run that distance.   Either I am getting stronger or my knee, hip and ankle pain that used to plague me are now numbed to non-existent. Either way, I'll take it.  I'm happy I no longer walk like an old man after running 6 miles!

The weekend is upon us, and My plans have changed.   I hope I  will find things to do to have fun and continue the long needed relaxation.   Wednesday and Thursday were long days with very little sleep.   So Friday was a welcome change from that.  And I still have two days left!  How awesome is that!

I hope everyone is  planning on having a great weekend this weekend.   Weekends mean so much more now that I have a regular job.  And if I get the rare weekend where I don't have to play "catch up,"  all the better.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.   And Thanks for stopping in.