Sarasota Chalk Festival (Part 1)

During this unique community celebration, local, regional and international artists of all ages and skill levels come together to create colorful pavement art. The theme this year is ”Eat, Drink & Be Merry” and ran from November 9-16, 2015.

Sarasota has been the home of the Chalk Festival each November since 2007. The festival was held in downtown Sarasota until last year when it moved to Venice (held at the Venice Municipal Airport and downtown on Miami Street).

​This is my first year visiting the Chalk Festival. We moved to Florida in June of 2013 and have been on vacation the week it was held in 2013 and 2014.

After seeing all of the gorgeous art, I don’t think I’ll schedule another vacation in November again. Because this is a not-to-be-missed-event. Not only can you see chalk masterpieces, they also have dance, music, magic, poetry and storytelling performances.

Last year, artists created a 22,000-square-foot megalodon shark painting (still on show at the Venice airport) that was recognized earlier this year by the Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s Largest Anamorphic Pavement Art.

​As I mentioned earlier, this was my first visit to the Chalk Festival. My friend and I went yesterday, the last day of the festival so most of the art was already finished. We did happen to catch this artist still working when we arrived at the airport location. Next year, I think I will go multiple days so that I can see the artist create.

And by the time we came back to the airport, he had finished

Here are some of my favorites from the airport…

And for all my foodie friends, the iconic Julia Child.

See Part 2 of this post to check out some of my favorites from Miami Street.

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