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Colorful and creative, Chalk It Up! turns 20

The 20th annual Chalk It Up! happens Saturday on Main Street.

Barbara Hughes has been getting letters from all over congratulating her on the 20th anniversary of an event that started when she sent her two kids outside her Main Street shop to draw on the sidewalk.

For the past 19 years, thanks to Hughes’ indefatigable devotion to the event, the sidewalks of Downtown Hendersonville have been transformed into an outdoor museum. In its 20th year, Chalk It Up! expects to have 150 artists of all ages using colorful sticks of chalk to create their masterpiece on a pre-assigned square of concrete.
“It’s like Garden Jubilee,” Patty Adamic, the owner of Mike’s on Main, says of the economic spinoff from Chalk It Up!
In honor of the 20th birthday, a group of local artists drew a mural in front of the Historic Courthouse depicting the beauty of Hendersonville. (A time lapsed video of the mural can be seen on the Narnia’s Facebook page.
Congratulatory letters have come in from U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, Gov. Pat McCrory, Mayor Barbara Volk and City Councilman Jeff Miller.
Categories for the contest are 5 & under, 6-8 years old, 9-12 years old, 13-20 years, 21 & over and professional. Chalk is provided in 20 different colors. No outside medium is allowed. There are five winners in each age category. Local merchants donate the prizes for those winners. The professional category has one best of show winner.

A limited number of commemorative T-shirts will be available for sale for $12 starting at the opening of registration. For more information, call Hughes at 697-6393. To register visit Narnia Studios at 315 N. Main St.