Beyond the logistical feat of organizing 500 artists for the Pasadena Chalk Festival, the Father’s Day annual event is celebrated for the community it nurtures. From muralists with decades of experience to teens participating for the first time, the festival welcomes them like family.
Patty Hurley, managing director of the Light Bringer Project, and Light Bringer Project board chair Tom Coston oversee and organize the event each year.
The Father’s Day tradition featured more than 200 vibrant murals on the concrete sidewalk canvas of The Colorado Paseo, with artists tackling a range of contemporary issues and offering humorous renditions of pop culture icons, from satirical political portraits to bold takes on animated characters. The Light Bringer Project referenced the Eaton and Palisades fires—and the perseverance that followed—as a motif in its community newsletter, Chalk Talk.
These themes may have emerged as unofficial guides for the weekend, but in its 32-year history, the Chalk Festival has never adopted a formal theme.
“We don’t believe in themes,” Hurley said. “A lot of reporters will ask us, ‘What’s new with the Chalk Festival this year?’ Every mural is new. People coming to see the festival are going to see the widest variety of imagery ever in the same place at the same time, so there is no theme. Even if we forced a theme, I don’t think the artists would follow the rules.”
“I think one of the great things is that, as artists come back and back and back, it means more and more to them,” Coston said. “They become more accustomed to seeing their friends, to renewing their excitement about the festival, and to being able to share what they’ve done over the year.”
Ballots were distributed to artists and visitors to vote on first, second and third place prizes, as well as awards for Best Technique, Best Use of Color, Best 3-D Effect, Best Rendition of a Masterpiece, On the Way to MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), Most Humorous, Most Inspirational, Best New Artist and Best in Animation. A complete list of winners is featured on the Pasadena Chalk Festival website.
The festival celebrates its devoted regulars—a third of whom have chalked for more than a decade. This year, Kathleen Sanders, The Flowers, Gabby Collins, Manuel Cuadros, C. Nick, Ruston Harker, Pedro Lopez, Leo Aguirre, Alexandra Milat, Monika Petroczy and Ivette Morales marked their 10-year anniversaries with the festival.
David Calvillo, who participated in his 23rd year this weekend, continues to draw inspiration from nature and its cultural symbolism. His mural featured a group of expressive parrots, each varying in size, color, and posture. According to Calvillo, the parrots are subtly calling out agents of injustice and protecting their community.
“Most of our work is Native American–based and Mexican and Native diaspora–based. We’re into nature. We include birds because different birds have different meanings. We apply that to what’s going on today. Parrots are really united and protective of their community.”
Like Calvillo, artists often develop personal themes that evolve with them over the years. Dominic Farrar has recently dedicated his chalk murals to reimagining the face behind the Guy Fawkes mask, using new drawing techniques he refined over the past year.
“Everyone thinks I am trying to send a message, but not necessarily,” Farrar said. “The mask, in itself, is a message, and there’s a whole different background behind it.”
With each passing year, the Chalk Festival draws not just crowds but a growing sense of belonging — an ever-expanding circle of returning artists who treat the weekend like a reunion. Coston, who has witnessed the festival’s growth for more than three decades, calls it a homecoming of sorts.
Founded in 1993 by the Light Bringer Project, a Pasadena nonprofit organization that brings accessible art to the community, the silent art auction raises funds for visual and media arts education in underserved Los Angeles schools.
