Downtown Draw, Waterbury

Each fall, artists gather on the Waterbury green to do sidewalk chalk drawings of a particular theme during the Downtown Draw. It's a great event, sponsored by Main Street Waterbury.

This year's theme was matched to The Big Read, which features Fahrenheit 451, or any other book. The image above was designed by my daughter and her friend. Below are two selections by the art classes from the Waterbury schools.

An Unusual Family Outing

A year ago last spring, I went with my wife and daughter to Hartford and New Haven in search of graffiti. It was one of the best days I ever had.

We walked the railroad tracks under Route 84 along Capitol Avenue in Hartford and found plenty. We took photos, we found old, rusted railroad spikes, we joked, we laughed, and we had fun. We were impressed when our daughter's imagination starting churning...she's going to write a story about magical railroad spikes.

Later on Water Street in New Haven we met three graffiti artists and we stayed a while, talked with them about their craft, took photos and video, and our presence was welcome.

An unusual family excursion, to be sure. But what a blessing on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.