Chalktoberfest Returns to Marietta Square Saturday

About 100,000 people are expected to flock to Marietta Square this weekend for the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art’s annual Chalktoberfest celebration.

During the chalk art extravaganza, 93 chalk artists from across the world will line the streets of the Square showcasing their talents while guests have the option of sampling over 120 different kinds of craft beer from over 40 different breweries.

Artists participating in this year’s festival hail from such places as Mexico, Germany, Spain, Italy and Turkey.

Sally Macaulay, museum director, said the idea is to build community through art.

“All of the artists are incredible,” Macaulay told the MDJ. “We have become great friends, and I love seeing each and every one.”

Festivalgoers can also explore multiple arts and crafts vendors, order from food trucks and enjoy live music performed in Glover Park. Sunday, a public chalk art competition will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. where guests of all ages are invited to create their best works.

Admission to the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art is free all weekend.

The chalk art festival runs Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The craft beer festival is Saturday only from noon to 5 p.m.

The event is free to the public, but purchased tickets are required to participate in the craft beer festival on Saturday. Tickets for the beer festival are $50 online and $55 at the gate. All proceeds go toward supporting museum.

According to a Facebook post from the festival, road closures around Marietta Square will begin as early as Friday at 2 p.m., starting with North Park Square.

At 4 p.m. Friday, South Park Square, East Park Square, Roswell Street at Waddell Street and Atlanta Street at Anderson Street will close. All remaining roads on Marietta Square will close on Saturday at 5:30 a.m.

Chalktoberfest is a rain-or-shine celebration. In the event of showers or thunderstorms, Macaulay said the festival has a complete system for rain. Using the RainAware mobile app, festival officials can track the lead-up to rain by the minute.

At the 10-minute mark until rainfall, Macaulay will blow a bullhorn signaling for artists to remove all their equipment from the streets. After the first raindrop, Macaulay will sound the bullhorn again which signals for artists to cover up their work using large tarps that are provided.

“It works very well,” Macaulay said of their rain preparation process.

But it looks like the festival will not need to implement their backup plan. According to the National Weather Service, Saturday’s forecast is predicted to be sunny and clear with a high near 76 degrees and a low of 49. Sunday’s conditions are almost identical with a high near 82 and a low around 57.

Macaulay said artists that come to Chalktoberfest are like family.

“They travel from one festival to the next and all of them are so nice, I look forward to seeing them each and every year,” Macaulay said. “There are a couple of new artists that are coming this year, and I am very excited to see what they create. One is Pablo Cacho from Madrid, Spain. The other is Aziz Elgart from Germany.”

For more information on Chalktoberfest, visit chalktoberfest.com.