Ten families using 200 pieces of chalk brightened an entire neighborhood Thursday and organizers hope their positivity spreads to other streets around the county.
Megan Williams, or Donna Avenue, saw a Pinterest post about a Chalk Your Walk program elsewhere and decided it was something to bring to Northpointe Townhomes, off Easton Hill in Morgantown.
Williams ordered 10 containers of chalk with 20 pieces of different colors in each. She watched weather forecasts and picked a day that looked like it would be perfect for sidewalk artists.
She and her older children — she and her husband Randy have four: Brody, 10, Ireland, 9, and Kiley and Connor, 2 — made a flier announcing the project.
It reads: To help you maintain sanity during COVID-19 Stay at Home, we invite you to Chalk Your Walk. Neighbors were encouraged to draw or write encouraging messages on driveways or sidewalks on Thursday.
“I was trying to figure out a way to get outside and brighten our neighborhood a little bit,” Williams said. We wanted to start some positivity. It’s really hard right now to find something happy, something positive.”
Williams said she and her kids did a “door dash” to deliver the fliers and the chalk to nine neighbors, who they knew had children in the homes.
They kept one container for their own artwork and come Thursday they were joined by neighbors in adding some color to the landscape. The Williamses were taking a walk Thursday afternoon to see how many sidewalks and driveways now had artwork. She could see at least four from her home and on the walk found there were eight that participated.
She considers the project a success and hopes other communities will use Donna Avenue and the surrounding streets as an example.
“Who knows how long this is going to last? People are already walking around saying they love the idea and thank you for doing it,” Williams said.
She said, next time she’s buying more chalk.
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