What to Know
- Oct. 16 and 17, 2021
- The Paseo at 300 E. Colorado Boulevard
- 600+ chalk artists are expected; visitors can also enjoy activities for kids, live tunes, and the Pasadena Police Car Show (on Sunday)
Father's Day? The warm-of-heart happening can include quality time spent around the barbecue, or on a bicycle ride, or hiking in a favorite canyon with your favorite guy.
And for the last three decades, or just about? The holiday has also been all about looking down, at the ground, in the Crown City.
For the Pasadena Chalk Festival, a free and large-scale spectacular featuring hundreds of incredibly talented chalk artists, has become synonymous, for many locals, with the third weekend in June.
Get Southern California news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC LA newsletters.
That wasn't to be in June 2021, but a new picture is forming for fans of the art-strong spectacular, and it will continue to become clearer as autumn draws closer.
For the Light Bringer Project, the nonprofit arts organization behind the bash, just announced that the madonnari will be back out, with pieces of chalk in their hands and wondrous visions in their heads, on Oct. 16 and 17, 2021.
In fact, over 600 madonnari, or artists who work with chalk pastels and pavement, are expected to be present, and creating pictures, at the 29th annual gathering, which will be fully in-person.
"We can’t wait to bring back the incredible, dynamic artworks of so many artists to The Paseo this fall," said Thomas Coston, President of Light Bringer Project. "Last year was exceptionally difficult on the arts and the time to support your local organizations and artists is now."
"We've got a great lineup of artists this year and look forward to seeing attendees in-person as we celebrate the creativity, diversity and excitement that makes Pasadena such a wonderful place to be."
Live tunes, activities for kids, and the Pasadena Police Car Show, on Sunday, will also be a part of the upcoming festival.
There's more festival fun in the works, too, thanks to a new film debuting on the Light Bringer Project's Youtube on June 27. The hour-long presentation looks back at the history of the festival, which is one of the largest chalk-themed events in the world.
The Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division partner on the community-fun fest, which raises funds and awareness for arts and learning programs in both Pasadena and greater Los Angeles.
Pictured: "Astronauts" by Kurt von Badinski
