Urban Experiment vs. Parental Experiment

On Saturday, we participated in our first ever "urban experiment." A Grand Rapids resident sets up events throughout the year and promotes them on Facebook. Some past events have included a Zombie Walk and a Downtown Pillow Fight. This time the event was a Chalk Flood. People were invited to come out and show off their artistic talent all over downtown Grand Rapids. Over 3,000 pieces of chalk were available for use.

A few weeks ago when taking a walk, Allison was fascinated by some chalk drawings she saw on the sidewalk. I thought if one or two small drawings caught her attention, then surely sidewalk after sidewalk of drawings would really capture her attention. So after I got out of work, we headed downtown to Rosa Parks Circle. This is where the parental experiment came in - letting a toddler, who can move rather quickly, out of her stroller and walk around a big group of people. Allison actually did pretty well. The only issue was they didn't close off the street and she kept wandering close to the road. She wasn't happy with me when I had to redirect her to a different area. Normally she knows better than to go near the road, however with the crowds of people and since the road is a one-way single lane road, she couldn't tell there was a street there.

We gave Allison a bag of chalk and she left her mark - well maybe four or five marks. That was all. She was having more fun people watching (takes after her mom).

I hope they do this event next year, when Allison will be more into the drawing aspect(hopefully). Since Brian is a better artist than I am, he can draw with Allison and I can chase Mia around and keep her out of the street. Not only was it fun for us (or maybe just me), it was a great event for the city. It drew a ton of people on a Saturday afternoon when downtown GR is normally pretty quiet. Who would have thought that chalk would bring so many people out?

Allison scoping out all the drawings.

But mom, where do you expect me to draw. There is chalk everywhere.

Allison leaves her mark.

Excuse me mister. Thanks for lending me this piece of chalk, but you can have it back now.

Break Time.

What happens when you sit on chalk? You get a dirty backside. At least she sat on yellow chalk and it matched her shirt.

A pretty drawing about Spring.

Mia taking in all the action.

Dad takes a moment to write out Allison and Amelia's name.