Festival History
The Pasadena Chalk Festival began in 1993 after a summer intern at the Light Bringer Project attended a street painting festival in Paris and brought back her amazing pictures and observations. The first “Chalk on the Walk” took place at Centennial Square at Pasadena City Hall with over 150 visual artists participating in the first Los Angeles-area event. All proceeds went toward community arts programs and HIV/AIDS resources.
In 2010, The Pasadena Chalk Festival was officially named the largest street painting festival by the Guinness World Record, welcoming more than 600 artists using over 25,000 sticks of chalk and drawing a crowd of more than 100,000 visitors in one weekend. In fact, previous festivals have attracted artists and design teams from many regions of the country, across Southern California, and virtually every Los Angeles-area community. Leading art schools, museums and cultural centers are also represented at the festival.
The Pasadena Chalk Festival is produced by The Paseo and Light Bringer Project (LBP), with proceeds benefitting LBP, a nonprofit arts and education organization that creates and supports vital arts and learning programs in the LA County and Pasadena public schools for students of all ages. Each artist volunteers to 20 hours of his or her talent and energies to make this possible.
History of Madonnari
For centuries artists (known in Italy as “Madonnari” or street painters) have painted beautiful images on the boulevards and squares of great cities, using the pavements as the street surfaces as their canvas. After World War II, scores of itinerant artists made their living from the unique art of street painting. Currently prestigious cultural festivals in Europe, North and South America celebrate this traditional art form and have become popular attractions for artists, art lovers and people from all walks of life.
History of the Pasadena Chalk Festival
The Pasadena Chalk Festival began in 1993 after a summer intern at the Light Bringer Project attended a street painting festival in Paris and brought back her amazing pictures and observations. The first “Chalk on the Walk” took place at Centennial Square at Pasadena City Hall with over 150 visual artists participating in the first Los Angeles-area event. All proceeds went toward community arts programs and HIV/AIDS resources.
In 2010, The Pasadena Chalk Festival was officially named the largest street painting festival by the Guinness World Record, welcoming more than 600 artists using over 25,000 sticks of chalk and drawing a crowd of more than 100,000 visitors in one weekend. In fact, previous festivals have attracted artists and design teams from many regions of the country, across Southern California, and virtually every Los Angeles-area community. Leading art schools, museums and cultural centers are also represented at the festival.
The Pasadena Chalk Festival is produced by The Paseo and the Light Bringer Project, as a financial benefit for the nonprofit arts organization, raising proceeds for vital arts and learning programs in the schools and cultural opportunities for those of all ages. Each artist volunteers to 20 hours of his or her talent and energies to make this possible.
A Look Back at the Pasadena Chalk Festival
1993
Called "Chalk It Up", the festival's 1st year at Centennial Square at Pasadena City Hall featured 150 chalk artists participating.
1994
Now in the 2nd year, over 200 artists now join the Chalk It Up festival at Centennial Square at Pasadena City Hall.
1996
Chalk It Up moved to West Hollywood Park (at Pacific Design Center). Now over 300 artists participated raising dollars for community arts programs and homeless support services. Kurt Wenner, recognized as one of the world’s greatest street painters or "Master Madonnari," served as guest centerpiece artist. The mural was featured in international publications as part of the celebrated 'Absolut Artist' advertising series.
1995
The Chalk It Up festival moved to Old Pasadena Historic District and raised funds for community arts programs.
1997
The festival was now named "ABSOLUT CHALK" and moved to Universal CityWalk. Over 350 artists participated and Absolut joined as the title sponsor. All the artists participated in creating a large centerpiece mural, each drawing in a square foot of space, to the outline of the signature Absolut bottle shape.
1998
ABSOLUT CHALK at Centennial Square at Pasadena City Hall now had artists from Europe and Japan creating pastel chalk murals in support of arts education and community arts programs. The 'Absolut Art Gallery' on-site was established as another way to share artists' works with the public.
1999
ABSOLUT CHALK held its second consecutive year as Centennial Square at Pasadena City Hall.
2000
ABSOLUT CHALK at Centennial Square at Pasadena City Hall. Number of artists participating continues to rise above 400.
2001
ABSOLUT CHALK moves to MIAMI BEACH. At the request of title sponsor ABSOLUT, artists were culled from art schools and arts organizations to kick off the festival. A centerpiece design was drawn with artist Romero Britto, and several artists from Los Angeles made the trip to participate.
2002
ABSOLUT CHALK is back at Centennial Square at Pasadena City Hall. 650 artists return. 13 Tibetan Monks from the Gynto Vajrayana Center participated as the festival’s special guests.
2003
ABSOLUT CHALK at Centennial Square at Pasadena City Hall hosting over 650 artists, the largest in the festival’s history, created over 200 stunning street murals. Award-winning chalk artists create their newest murals as part of this year’s centerpiece feature.
2004
ABSOLUT CHALK moves to Paseo Colorado, Pasadena bringing almost 700 artists. The festival took place in the at the center plaza of the shopping village and murals covered the entire concrete area..
2005
ABSOLUT CHALK now at Paseo Colorado, Pasadena. Over 75,000 visitors and 10 million media hits regionally, made this event the biggest ever in its history.
2006
The event is now the PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL at Paseo Colorado, Pasadena. Introduced the “Famous Fathers” award category, national sponsorships, record-breaking attendance and over 43 million media impressions.
2007
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL at Paseo Colorado Pasadena, the first year to feature “Animation Alley,” a new section of pavement on the lower theatre court, dedicated to murals by animators and cartoonists. The grand prize was round trip jetBlue tickets.
2008
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL at Paseo Colorado, Pasadena received support through a grant from the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Department. This also initiated a themed mural award from AT&T entitled “Connecting the World.” Light Bringer Project’s Room 13 artists from South Los Angeles joined the festival as an artist team.
2009
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL at Paseo Colorado, Pasadena, held on Father’s Day weekend, incorporated another new section of pavement on the upper theatre court, entitled “Chalk of Fame.” This area was designated for murals of famous movie posters and characters, with a prize package from ArcLight Cinema. Additionally, the festival extended across Green street to incorporate more mural spaces in front of the historic Pasadena Civic Auditorium.
2010
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL, Paseo Colorado, Pasadena. With the growth of the PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL, festival organizers decided to attempt to set the GUINESS WORLD RECORD, for the “Largest Display of Chalk Pavement Art,” authenticating it’s claim to be “The World’s Largest Street Painting Festival.” Record-breaking attendance by old and new artists combined efforts to make this a historic year!
2011
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL, Paseo Colorado, Pasadena, the 19th PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL, now officially the world’s largest! Record breaking attendance and over 600 artists gather to create a memorable event.
2012
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL, Paseo Colorado, Pasadena celebrates the 20th anniversary with a kick off Friday night concert on the steps of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium! Veteran artists were honored this year with special ribbons designating the number of years they’ve participated in our festival.
2013
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL, Paseo Colorado, Pasadena, the 21st annual event continued to see an increase in the number of artist participants and crowds which numbered in the thousands. For the first time, Green Street was closed on Sunday providing more walkability, and the incorporation of the classic car show on Father’s Day.
2014
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL, Paseo Colorado, Pasadena, the 22nd annual Pasadena Chalk Festival welcomed San Francisco visiting artist, Tom Matousek, who created an optical-cubist inspired chalk mural of famous Pasadenan, Jackie Robinson.
2015
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL, Paseo Colorado, Pasadena, the festival enjoyed its widest and most diverse participation, including artists from out-of-state, and even as far away as Via de San Giovanni della Paglia, Italy!
2016
The Pasadena Chalk Festival adds a “Circle of Champions” area for those artists who’ve won more than three “Best of Festival” awards were spotlighted in a special area.
2017
The Pasadena Chalk Festival celebrates its 24th Anniversary with a retrospective exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of History.
2018
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL, Paseo Colorado, Pasadena celebrates its 25th anniversary. OTTER POPS sponsor the event, helping folks beat the heat with some summer fun.
2019
The Pasadena Chalk Festival once again receives a sweet treat sponsor in TILLAMOOK, who set up a little vending station for folks to cool off and grab an ice cream cone. Grand Prize and Artist’s Choice winners take home $2,500 and $1,500 respectively, courtesy of Tillamook.
2020
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL holds a virtual festival due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Muralists send in pictures of them and their murals from home, shared via the festival website and social media.
2021
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL commemorates 28 years of creating a museum without walls with a panoramic gallery, documenting decades of artwork brought to Pasadena and beyond. Another virtual festival for Dia De Los Metros.
2022
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL triumphantly returns to hosting in-person festivals at Paseo Colorado, Pasadena. Live music featured on the Main Stage at Garfield Promenade.
2023
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL moves to the Plaza at the Pasadena Convention Center for its 30th anniversary and returns to hosting the event on Father’s Day Weekend.
2026
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL tentatively to be held on June 27th and 28th in conjunction with the Pasadena Police Department’s Annual Classic Car Show on Saturday the 27th and the Great Race for the 100th Anniversary of Colorado Boulevard and 150th Anniversary of Route 66 on Sunday the 28th.
2024
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL, Plaza at the Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena. Muralists endure a weekend heat wave of up to 97 degrees, but artists and onlookers alike still show up in droves to create and witness the spectacle of the 200 murals .
2025
Next Pasadena Chalk Festival to come Father’s Day Weekend, June 14th and 15th.
Have you watched our film?
A graphic panorama of 28 years of the Pasadena Chalk Festival, from 1993 to 2021
