Newbury Market Place buzzes with colour as 600 turn out for Chalkfest

The Market Place became an array of pastel colour as City Arts chalked up another great success on Monday.

Just over 600 people attended this year’s Chalkfest, with 220 entering the competition for prizes, on what the organisers described as a “hot but brilliant day”.

Families became pavement artists for the day, chalking their imaginative designs over allocated patches in the town centre.

Claire Struthers-Semple, from City Arts, said: “It’s fair to say it was a fantastic day, with close-to-record crowds for this event.

“Crowds gathered from 10am to get their chalk and people seemed to really appreciate the opportunity to take part for free or enter the competition for £1. In the current cost of living crisis, a low-cost high-fun event was very popular.

“The City Arts team had fun chasing the shade around the market square, marking out the circles to contain the masterpieces. It was great to see all ages engaged in the simple pleasure of expressing themselves through visual art. The Market Place buzzed all day long with fun and creativity.”

At the end of the day, Market Place was a complete colour burst and lots of happy parents and children made their way home.

The competition entries will be reviewed in the coming couple of weeks and the prize giving – City Arts gift vouchers for children up to 12 years old and teen (13 to 17) and a Bill’s voucher for the adult (18 +) category – will take place at City Arts in Hampton Road.