Kneepads are just as important as chalk to the more than 600 artists expected at this weekend’s downtown Lake Worth Beach Street Painting Festival.
Thousands of spectators are expected to line Lucerne and Lake avenues to watch artists brush, massage, prod and polish their colorful formations onto the black pavement.
Weather conditions are expected to be ideal — 74 degrees on Saturday and 73 on Sunday with low chances of rain both days.
“The festival fits the quirkiness and close-knit artist community in Lake Worth Beach,” said Bonnie Bruner, a local artist who was one of the about a dozen students and teachers who participated in the first Street Painting Festival in 1994.
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An art teacher at Lantana Elementary School, Bruner and other local artists organized the first festival on K and J streets. About 40 people attended the one-day show.
“It was us, the chalk, the street and our ideas. The parents kept running to the nearby convenience store to buy water,” remembered Bruner.
That year she drew a Picasso on the pavement as spectators leaned over her shoulder to watch.
About 100,000 people are expected at this year’s two-day event. About $4 million was the overall economic impact to the city and county from last year’s festival, according to county officials.
As the artists work, volunteers bring them chalk, drinks, lunch and art equipment. Kneeling, sitting, sweating and crawling, the artists fashion their drawings in the nooks and crannies in the steamy pavement.
Soaring eagles, mysterious illusions, bursting sunsets, family portraits, slinky sea life, historical figures and luscious landscapes are expected to form a brilliant downtown quilt.
Local artist plans on drawing ‘abstract flamingos’ at the 2024 Lake Worth Beach Street Painting Festival
“People like to see art being done before their eyes,” said Craig McInnis, a West Palm Beach artist who is participating in his 12th Street Painting Festival.
The annual Street Painting Festival, Gay Pride Parade and Christmas Parade are among the top events in Lake Worth Beach, said McInnis, who owns Craig McInnis Art Studios on Georgia Avenue in West Palm Beach.
“The festival has a Key Westy feel. It’s a weirdness, but a good weirdness. It fits in with Lake Worth Beach,” he said.
Downtown businesses also benefit, said Marcin Lyczkowski, owner of Brick Oven Pizza & Italian Cuisine on Lake Avenue. “We get lots of new customers. Lots of families. Many come back after the festival,” said Lyczkowski, who has been in business through eight festivals.
While the Lake Worth Beach Street Painting Festival is not the only one held in Florida, it’s the oldest and largest, said participants. Sarasota, Panama City, Clearwater Beach, Melbourne and Vero Beach also have street painting festivals.
“Lake Worth Beach is the flagship. Along with Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens and Norton Museum of Art, we are bringing art and culture to Palm Beach County,” said McInnis, who plans to chalk pink-on-black “abstract flamingos” at the festival.
Those flamingos, like all the other drawings that the artists put their hearts and knees into, won’t last.
The first rainstorm will wash away the pavement canvases, ranging in size from 4-feet-by-6-feet to 10-feet-by-10 feet.
“Art is temporary. It’s fleeting,” said Bruner.
2024 Lake Worth Beach Street Painting Festival schedule
- Where: Downtown Lake Worth Beach.
- When: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24 and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 25
- Cost: Free.
- Children: Street painting for children is planned at the Children’s Meadow at J Street and Lucerne Ave.
- Pets: Service animals only.
- Entertainment: Food trucks and live music.
- Access: Shuttles to the festival are planned from the Lake Worth Beach Tri-Rail Station and the Lake Worth Beach campus of Palm Beach State College, 4200 S. Congress Ave. The shuttles are free.
- Road closings: Lake and Lucerne avenues between Dixie and Federal highways will be closed during the festival. Lucerne and Lake avenues are planned to reopen at 9 p.m. Sunday.
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