Boxes of chalk lay scattered along the sidewalks of Onset as artists turned grey slabs of pavement into colorful scenes of blimps, fantastic creatures and far-off vacation destinations on Saturday, Aug. 17 during this year’s Chalk-Full-O-Fun chalkfest. 

The Freman siblings had fantastical scenes under their fingertips.

“It’s like a blimp, airship thing with some kind of butterfly things,” said Ben Freeman of his creation.

Ben said he’d sketches out the whole scene to start, including people looking up at the airship from the bottom of the frame, and began filling in the scene with the blue-sky background.

Sophia Freman said she chose to draw a character from a friend’s game.

That character was the subject of a prophecy, so the black-and-red chalk artwork was meant to depict the character as if it was a prophetic mural, she said.

Sophia used a paintbrush to achieve some of her work’s swirling effects, a technique which used the leftover dust from an initial chalk-stick pass to create a smoother effect.

Presley Dexter, 14, used paper and gloves to smooth out a swirling, starry horse, which helped give it a lifelike, smooth shine.

“It’s a pegasus and a unicorn,” Dexter explained, adding that it carried the moon in its horns and the galaxy in its mane.

Another artist, Kat, used one-point perspective to make it appear as if a pig floated in a pool within a hole in the concrete.

Kat said she was inspired by the work of David Zinn, who came to Onset in 2018 as the festival’s guest featured artist, who uses similar techniques in his chalk art.

This year’s chalk festival was the tenth since it began in 2014 — and it will be the last under the auspices of organizers Milly and Jeff Burrows.

Milly said when she began the festival, she planned to help it for ten years, before stepping out and passing the torch.

Tammie Glass, who will be the festival’s next torch bearer, said they opened space for more vendors this year.

“It’s going awesome,” she said. “People are smiling, happy — it’s better than Christmas here.”