Walking down the painted streets of Sarasota, Florida, she was fascinated by the amount of talent exhibited at the City’s Chalk Festival. Executive Director of the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, Sally Macaulay, immediately knew that she had to bring that to Marietta.

Chalktoberfest, founded in 2013 was originally called Marietta Chalk Fest and featured only 40 artists. In the years since, Chalktoberfest has grown to become an international chalk art festival featuring artists from all over the world. The addition of the Craft Beer Festival and live music in 2015 only enlarged the event’s audience and provided a fundraising opportunity for the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art.

This year’s Chalktoberfest, held on October 12th and 13th in the Marietta Square, will see over 90 artists and also feature a Craft Beer Festival, public chalk competition, live music, arts and crafts vendors, food trucks and activities for the whole family to enjoy. The festival is free to attend has seen its popularity only grow in the short amount of time that it has been running, helping the museum to deliver its mission of “Building Community Through Art.”

Tickets to the Craft Beer Festival on Saturday are $40 in advance and $45 dollars the day of the festival. Last year this portion of the festival sold out so get your tickets early!

Chalktoberfest will continue the tradition this year of featuring an all-ages chalk competition on Sunday for the public and school teams. Registration for the public individual competition is $10 – $25 depending on age group. The cost for registration for school divisions is $25, unless the school is Title One, for which the registration is $20. There will also be fun children’s craft activities costing $2 for one craft or $10 for all crafts.

The festival has drawn praise from many local institutions, including Cobb Life Magazine, which awarded it Festival of the Year two years in a row, in 2016 and 2017. The festival also received the Mayor’s Art Award from the city of Marietta and Event of the Year from Cobb Travel and Tourism.

Please visit www.chalktoberfest.com for more information including times and event details.

This article originally appeared in the September issue of the EAST COBBER magazine, on page 54. Click here to view the digital edition.