Art in the City 2021

August 6-7, 2021

I was asked to do a chalk mural for Art in the City in Court House Square in Downtown Dayton for the Downtown Dayton Partnership. I was excited to do this! They wanted me to do their logo, with my own twist. I decided add flowers to their logo. It was not on the day the day of, but the day before the event. They said that they were having a "preview event" at lunchtime on Friday Aug. 6 the day before the event.

I showed up about 11:30 am on Friday, dropped off my stuff and then went to park my car. When I returned I was surprised how empty it was in Court House Square for being a supposed "event." There was an info table and a band performing on the stage. There were only a very few spectators. But there was a Dayton police car parked right next to me, which made me feel more safe. The art in the city folks were very nice and even brought me a tent when I asked for one. I set up, then took a break for a quick bite of lunch, and then started my chalk art. Suddenly I noticed that everyone was packing up and leaving, including the Dayton Police Car. In a few minutes I was all alone on the square along with some questionable looking people! I worked as quickly as I could to get my mural finished, so I could get out of there. In a little while the intern, that I had talked to earlier, came to see the I was doing OK. Fortunately she gave me the phone number of the Downtown Dayton Partnership, which was on the 6th floor of the tall building that stood next to me on the square.

Fortunately I decided to do a smaller version of my mural than I had planned and I worked as quick as I could to get the mural finished in the oppressive heat. When I finished, I didn't know what to do next. I didn't want to leave all my stuff on the square while I went to get my car. So I called my husband, Doug, to come rescue me all the way from Centerville. After that I called the Downtown Dayton Partnership and told them that they needed to come pick up their tent. I packed everything up and waited. About the time Doug arrived the folks from the Partnership came to get the tent. I guess I could have waited for them to come, but I just wasn't sure. I was glad to see Doug and we packed my stuff up and he dropped me off where my car was parked.

I was a little frustrated the way things turned out. The next day during the actual Art in the City event I had nothing to do. I ended up at the Dayton Society of Artists table doing nothing at all. My artwork did end up front lining the event in Courthouse Square and it did stay nice throughout the day, until it rained later in the day. But I wasn't there with it to talk to people. I did see my artwork posted on some Facebook sites about the event.