On a rainy Saturday, the Texas Panhandle Art Educators Association held its annual sidewalk chalk art contest at Medi Park, marking decades of fostering creativity in the community. Originally founded over two decades ago, the event had been dormant until a new leadership group, including Shawn Kennedy, revived it in 2019. Kennedy, the executive director of Blank Spaces and president of the Texas Panhandle Art Association, highlighted the significance of the event.
“We’ve been doing this for six years now under this organization, but it’s been around much longer, probably 25 years,” Kennedy explained. “Bringing it back was important to us, and now we have artists from elementary school to the community level participating.”
This year’s contest featured 83 teams, showcasing their talent across various age groups. Despite a brief interruption due to rain, spirits remained high as the artists worked to complete their pieces. While the rain cut drawing time short by an hour, judges had the chance to evaluate the artwork before it was affected.