What: Victoria International Chalk Festival
Where: Ship Point, Bay Centre (lower level)
When: Saturday, Sunday
This weekend, the Victoria International Chalk Festival will showcase chalk artists from all over the world, as well as local musicians and dancers.
And, yes, there will be food trucks.
For John Vickers, the chalk festival’s executive director, the food-truck issue has been a focus of fractious debate. He says ongoing food-truck disagreements are the reason the festival has abandoned its usual Government Street location after five years for Ship Point.
But first, the festival itself.
Marking its fifth anniversary, this year’s event — run on a $110,000 budget — hosts 35 chalk artists. They include such notables as California’s Julie Kirk-Purcell, who has created 3D-style paintings for Disney, Universal Studios and Chrysler. She’s also the author of Sidewalk Canvas, a book about street painting.
Then there’s Mexican artist Adry del Rocio, who has won 40 awards for her chalk art and has done artworks for Disney and Adidas.
Ruben Poncia, from the Netherlands, started out painting large billboards for movie houses before achieving chalk-art renown.
Californian husband-and-wife team Wayne and Cheryl Renshaw specialize in 3D chalk-works aiming for photo-realism.
There are also plenty of local chalkers, such as First Nations artist Jamin Zuroski, Ken Winchester (who got his start drawing sandwich boards) and Paul Bains, who has a background in mechanical engineering and sports-car racing.
Kirk-Purcell will create the chalk festival’s grand centrepiece, a 20-by-20-foot nature extravaganza depicting salmon, bears and eagles at the Bay Centre.
It’s all in keeping with the festival’s official theme, Adventure in the Forest World — a Celebration of Nature’s Spirits.
Although it’s not a requirement, chalk artists are encouraged to interpret the slogan visually.
For four years, the festival’s central location was a closed section of Government Street. Vickers said he abandoned the popular tourist stroll this season because the Downtown Victoria Business Association doesn’t want food trucks there.
In August, the DVBA again declined his bid for Government Street food trucks, he said.
After years of such refusals, Vickers decided to shift to Ship Point (where food trucks will be on location) while retaining the traditional Bay Centre site. “I said: ‘The hell with this,’ ” he said. “We’re kind of throwing in the towel. So we’re just bringing it down to the waterfront.”
Surveys conducted by the Chalk Festival suggest overwhelming support for food trucks, Vickers said.
“Seventy per cent of people are like: ‘Where are the food trucks?’ It’s like the foundation of your festival.”
The Downtown Victoria Business Association said Vickers’ interpretation of the food-truck contretemps is inaccurate.
DVBA executive director Kerri Milton said Vickers applied to shift the Chalk Festival to Ship Point in March. The city and DVBA approved that plan.
At the beginning of August, Vickers contacted the association about moving the festival to Government Street with food trucks. That wasn’t feasible because it was too late, Milton said.
A city staffer co-ordinating such events was on vacation. As well, municipal bylaws would have had to be modified to allow for food trucks on Government Street, Milton said.
“I happen to support food trucks very much,” Milton said. “[But] I think there does have to be changes to allow that kind of activity.”
Milton said the DVBA is willing to revisit the food-trucks issue in the future. However, if such discussions transpire, they may be chilly.
Last month, a local radio station reported that the two sides had publicly traded barbs on the issue, with Milton suggesting Vickers was attempting to “bully” the DVBA into advocating to the City of Victoria on his festival’s behalf.
There will be at least three food trucks at Ship Point, including one offering First Nations fare. Native crafts will also be sold. Children can do their own chalking in a dedicated kids’ zone. There will be live entertainment on a stage from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
Chalk artworks, mostly eight-by-10 feet, will be drawn on a lot at Ship Point as well as a pier. If it rains, artists can protect their creations with plastic sheets.
“We can work through showers,” Vickers said
