Good Morning …..how fabulous to be back in Lake Worth

Chris Gostling
Monday Blogger

and what a beautiful morning it is, perfect for the start to the week, blue skies and sunshine. And this same weather prevailed over the weekend making the 24^th Lake Worth Street Painting Festival a huge success. I love it if I am here for the festival because I think it is by far the most exciting event of the year.

The taste of Lake Worth on Friday evening heralded the start of the festivities with wristbands on sale which entitled you to visit something like 20 different eateries and bars and sample food and drinks at each one. Many people took part, walking from one venue to the next laughing and talking with others about the food. There was music everywhere and the sound of equipment being moved into place here and there along the two roads closed for the weekend. Children made the most of the closed roads and rode scooters and bikes up and down and chased each other and played games, parents safe in the knowledge that no cars would be coming. Some of the artists had already set up and had their work outlined ready to go early on Saturday morning. All the roads were marked in spaces evenly set out, ready for their artist to claim as their working area when the sun rose.

I worked the shuttle buses that drove backwards and forwards to the college outside town where people could leave their cars and travel in on the bus free of charge. The job of all the ambassadors on the buses was to welcome the people to the event, give the background to the Festival, encourage visitors to make the most of the restaurants and other facilities and promote the two charities to which any donations would be given, namely The Carers of people with ALS and Wheels for Children, a scheme to provide children with much needed wheelchairs. On my bus we made $42 dollars for the cause, not bad I thought!!!

The visitors were lovely, very friendly and made from all age groups, all with the same intention of having fun. There were large groups, couples, people on their own, some had visited before, others had never even been to Lake Worth. What I enjoyed were those who rode the bus in and then got on the same bus when returning to the college, they talked with excitement about their experience, discussing which piece they thought was the best, where they had eaten, the one common theme was how much they had all enjoyed the town and the experience of the Festival.

There were artists of all nationalities, both adults and children, artists who had taken part many times, some for the first time, school groups working together each knowing exactly where to make a mark, which colour to use and working in harmony to create fabulous shapes and images, all covered with chalk, some with as much on themselves as on the ground. Some were local, some had traveled from the other side of the country, some worked alone, other in pairs or larger groups……all with the intention of creating something to amaze the audience.

Sunday, of course, saw the artists finishing their work and packing up, leaving these wonderful artworks to be driven over and obliterated when the roads were reopened at 9pm, leaving the faintest marks to show that the Festival had taken place and was not just the figment of the imagination.

I have never been able to bring myself to drive down Lake or Lucerne until all traces have gone!!!

Enjoy the week, see you next Monday!                                                                                    Editors note:  Chris Gostling hails from England and has been a contributor on Mondays prior to her moving back to England’s Southend on Sea, Lake Worth’s sister city.  Photos  by Chris Gostling                             Photos below by Susan Ona  

The Little Train that Could                                                                     photo by Susan Ona

 photo by Susan Ona