Chariot of the Sun Mural from the 2022 Chalk Festival in Sarasota

The original international Chalk Festival started in Burns Square, downtown Sarasota in 2007, it moved to the Venice Airport Fairgrounds on Venice Island in 2014, Florida - the Shark-Tooth Capital of the World. Organized by the Avenida de Colores, 501c3 cultural arts organization, a festival was held in Sarasota April 2019 and Venice November 2019. the 3D Illusion Museum was held in Sarasota at the Ice House in 2020 featuring over 50 illusions in a museum setting. In 2021 the 'Avenue of Art' is a social distancing event in Burns Square where artists are painting, not chalking, over 300 sidewalks celebrating Sarasota County Centennial. The Chalk Festival 'Spirited Festivities' international event will be held October 29 - November 1, 2021 at the Venice Airport. Go to https://chalkfestival.org for more information.Featured events include 3D illusion paintings, traditional pavement painting, Young and Young at Heart Fun Zone for all, Pavement Music Festival, Vendors, Food Trucks and Beer Gardens.The Festival is a collaboration of artists, volunteers, donors and visitors who bring together, once a year, the best pavement artists in the world while welcoming anyone of any age or skill level to participate along side them. It is a celebration of the ephemeral pavement arts where artists use pastel chalk as their medium and the street surface as their canvas to create over-sized masterpieces as the public is invited to watch the creative process. Hundreds of other artists participate and in a multitude of ways from music, dance, poetry, acting, magic, and much more. In 2014 the Festival artists broke a world record for the Largest Anamorphic Pavement Art. The design by Kurt Wenner measured over 22,000 square feet! It did it again in 2015 with Bacchus and then with the restoration of the Megalodon. The Festival started in 2007 as a regional event. By 2008 it went national with over 100 artists participating. In 2010 the festival became the First International Street Painting Festival in the United States. The 2011 festival attracted, in one location, the most renowned artists in the field of street painting with over 500 artists participating and over 200,000 guests attending the week-long event. The 2012 festival celebrated the theme 'Circus City, USA' and artists from all over used the circus as an inspiration for their artwork - Kurt Wenner, Nik Wallenda, and many others put on a great performance event! The theme for the 2013 festival is 'Legacy of Valor' honoring Veterans, inspiring patriotism, and embracing freedom, "Freedom Pass It On." The 2014 theme was 'Extinct and Endangered Species; the 2015 theme was 'Eat, Drink & Be Merry'; the 2016 theme was 'Love & Peace'; the 2017 theme was 'Evanescence'; the 2019 'Garden of Wonder'; April 2022 'Resilience'; October 2022 'Spirited