• Courtesy Monica Digiovanni/Montpelier Alive
• Montpelier's Renewal Project, which filled empty storefronts damaged by the July 2023 flood with community artwork

Editor's note: This event has been postponed to Wednesday, July 17.

Last July, when Montpelier residents and business owners began the long and laborious process of cleaning up and rebuilding after the Great Flood of 2023, one thing was obvious: From the start, the arts community was chest-deep in recovery efforts to get the city back on its feet.

So when Amy Pitton began thinking about how Montpelier should mark the first anniversary of one of the worst natural disasters in Vermont's history, her mind immediately turned to holding an event that builds community and celebrates public art.

"I was thinking, Wow! It would be great to cover the streets with something other than water and mud and debris, so that we all have a different memory of what happened," said Pitton, director of program and membership at the Montpelier Senior Activity Center.

That idea turned into Flood the Streets With Art, a sidewalk chalk art festival meant to highlight Montpelier's resiliency and determination to bring people back into a downtown that, even before the flood, was still reeling from the impacts of the pandemic.

The free, daylong event on Wednesday, July 10, will feature live music, dance, food, and chalk art that's designed and created by the public. Beginning at 9 a.m., volunteers of all ages can register to decorate a square of sidewalk on either State or Main Street.

The collaborative festival, sponsored by Montpelier Alive, the Montpelier Senior Activity Center, the Center for Arts & Learning, Kellogg-Hubbard Library, and the T.W. Wood Gallery, will also feature chalk art made by professional artists at eight locations throughout the city. Thematically, it's similar to last year's Renewal Project, which filled Montpelier's flood-ravaged storefronts with community art.

On July 10 and 11, 2023, historic rainfall inundated central Vermont, causing the Winooski and North Branch rivers to overflow their banks, submerging Montpelier under several feet of water. Floodwaters forced the temporary or permanent closures of many downtown businesses, organizations and government offices. According to the governor's office, the state totaled more than $1 billion in emergency response and recovery costs and lost revenues.

The decision to use chalk as the artistic medium for this week's festival was both practical and symbolic, said Sabrina Fadial, executive director of the T.W. Wood Gallery, who, coincidentally, started her current job the day of the flood. Chalk is familiar and easy to use, inexpensive but colorful, and a temporary art form that's not likely to garner complaints, especially since it'll wash away after the next big rainstorm.

Chalk is also an ideal metaphor for what the festival aims to accomplish, noted Katie Trautz, executive director of Montpelier Alive, a nonprofit that works to market, revitalize and beautify the state capital.

"We would like to move on from this event and let the devastating memories of the flood wash away," she said. "It's like turning the page."

For people who want to participate in Flood the Streets With Art but lack artistic skills or the mobility to kneel on the sidewalk, Trautz said they can sketch their ideas on paper, then put them in an "idea pot" for others to translate onto the sidewalk for them. The only rules are that artists keep their drawings family friendly and color inside the lines.

Pitton, who until last year was the minister at the flood-damaged Bethany Church in Montpelier, is hoping the artwork will offer uplifting themes of resilience and optimism.

"I am hoping that Montpelier can begin to feel hopeful and positive about the future. But I think that's a big lift right now," she added. "We've enjoyed a vibrant downtown before. We'll see what happens."