Foot traffic moved a bit slower around Main and 20th streets in downtown Vancouver on Tuesday, as people walking couldn’t help but look down and tiptoe around the freshly drawn, brightly colored chalk messages all over the sidewalk.
“We were having lunch down the street and just happened to pass it,” said Amy Guasco of Vancouver, who was with her three children and mother-in-law. “We started reading all the messages and wanted to see what was going on.”
What was going on was Chalk the Walks, an annual event organized by Vancouver-based The Joy Team, in which volunteers spread positivity through messages and pictures drawn on the sidewalk in chalk.
“It sounds like a positive thing for kids to get involved with,” Guasco said. “I think in today’s world, everybody can use a little positivity.”
That was pretty much the reason Michele McKeag Larsen, founder of The Joy Team, started Chalk the Walks, now in its fifth year.
“People are looking for something uplifting,” Larsen said.
The Joy Team has put up billboards around the country with positive sayings, and Larsen said Chalk the Walks is a more accessible way for people to spread similar messages. While people were free to draw or write whatever they wanted, Larsen and her 14 volunteers had suggestions on hand for those who didn’t know what to write.
The first year the event was held, there were 333 participants around the country, Larsen said. Since then, that total has increase each year, and exploded from last year to Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Larsen estimated more than 38,000 people participated in the event internationally, up from around 4,000 last year.
“I don’t know (how it happened), but I love it,” Larsen said. “It’s all through social media. We invited people to participate, and they all invited people.”
Some of the messages written around Vancouver included: “There’s no age limit on awesome,” “You’re worth more than gold” and, “You are the best you.”
Larsen monitored participants from around the country, as well as Sweden, Ireland, Japan, Canada, Mexico and Honduras on the Chalk the Walks Facebook page. Throughout Tuesday, pictures of chalked walks around the world flooded the Facebook page.
In addition to uplifting messages, many also drew pictures, especially flowers and hearts. In Vancouver, Emma Dixon, 2, drew the sun and some balloons to celebrate her upcoming birthday. Her mother, Erin Dixon of Vancouver, also traced Emma’s full body, and then they added a pink dress and blue jewelry to the life-size Emma drawing.
“I love playing with chalk,” Emma said, adding that she also drew an “E” for Emma.
Up next for Chalk the Walks, Larsen wants to get more than 100,000 people to participate next year.
“If we do that, that’s going to be a movement,” she said. “It’s just been this wonderful ripple, and it’s an international ripple that started right here in Vancouver.”
