Sarina Sanghvi, Contributing Photographer

The island on Broadway in front of The Shops at Yale was filled with amateur and professional chalk artists on Saturday afternoon.

Students and locals gathered on the medians between Broadway and Elm Street to enjoy an afternoon of chalk drawing, live music and complimentary food for the eighth Annual Chalk Festival at The Shops at Yale. Artists’ colorful squares of intricate designs stretched across the streets.

Every artist was given a 4 by 4 foot square of pavement and asked to keep their drawings family-friendly but ultimately had full creative freedom, according to David DelVecchio, Yale University Properties’ real estate asset management director and one of the event’s organizers.

For the first time in the festival’s eight-year history, a part of Elm Street was closed down for the event — in addition to the Broadway island — to accommodate the growing number of participants. Attendees paused to take photos, ask artists questions and vote on their favorite pieces.

“When the festival first started, there were only about 20 artists,” DelVecchio said. “Eight years later, we have 70 participants. Every year it just keeps getting a little bigger.”

The event was divided into three different categories for teenagers, adults and groups of people ages 13 and up.

Festival-goers had the opportunity to vote for “People’s Choice” awards, which awarded vouchers of $100 to first-place winners and $75 to second-place winners for local businesses Sherkaan Indian Street Food and Sneaker Junkies. A professional judge chose the overall first, second and third place winners. The first place winner was awarded $1,000 for Hull’s Art Supply, second was awarded $500 for Sneaker Junkies and third was awarded $250 to Hull’s. 

Zach Chernak, a teacher at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School in New Haven, said he has been participating in the contest for six years. This year, he created a chalk drawing of Handsome Dan. He won second place overall, second place for the People’s Choice award and best photo rendition and use of color. 

“I get to meet a ton of people, and I love doing public art since I actually get to talk to people,” Chernak said.

The Chalk Festival’s theme this year was New Haven, and drawings highlighted different parts of the town’s life and history.

Maria Ma GRD ’26, a current student at Yale and the overall first place winner, first place people’s choice winner and Best New Haven theme winner, created a chalk drawing inspired by Herbert Matter’s 1955 redesign of the New Haven Railroad logo.

“I knew everyone was gonna draw pizza and Handsome Dan, which I love, but I also think the railroads are such a big part of New Haven history,” Ma said.

Participants came from across the region.

 “It is more than just a New Haven event, people come in front out of town, and even out of state, we have a couple registered from New York and Massachusetts,” DelVecchio said.

The New Haven Chalk Art Festival was first held in 2018.