Pasadena Chalk Festival at The Paseo, 2016 (File Photo – Emmanuel Kraultez).
PASADENA — ColoradoBoulevard.net:
In a statement to our newsroom, Light Bringer Project Board Chair, Tom Coston, announced the cancellation of Pasadena Chalk Festival 2023.
By News Desk
Full statement below:
Regrettably, Light Bringer Project has been forced to cancel the Pasadena Chalk Festival which was scheduled to celebrate its 30th anniversary on Fathers’ Day Weekend in June. The Paseo, host for the festival for more than fifteen years, is now under the auspices of its new owner, real estate developer Onni Group. We have been apprised by Onni that the previous financial and labor resources the festival has always relied upon will not be provided to us.
The hugely popular event, which includes hundreds of artists and many thousands of visitors, was also a benefit fundraiser for Light Bringer Project’s arts education programs in our schools. The organization is currently inquiring with other venues, also hoping to keep it in the Pasadena community. Please watch pasadenachalkfestival.org for updates.
As reported by The RealDeal in November 2022, the developer Onni Group bought the 457,000-square-foot The Paseo complex for $103 million through a foreclosure.
I wrote to my councilman, Tyron Hampton, to implore the council to make a home for the venue where it started. Like Gary Green stated…on the streets in front of City Hall. I would recommend that everyone that cares about this festival do the same. 30 year anniversary is big reason to make this year spectacular!
Onni- not our favorite right now. Showing zero care for the very community you’re buying in to. The Pasadena Chalk Festival will be greatly missed. Very saddened by this news.
New owners/developers often have no connection with the community and typically won’t invest in the community other than to primarily make a profit. For example, a building in Altadena that housed a small Cajun grocery store and barbershop got bought by new owner and they tripled the rent, forcing these businesses to move away!
I didn’t know a foreign hedge fund acquired the Paseo in a foreclosure. Sad empty place that had so much potential and was grossly mismanaged and then the pandemic dealt the death blow, eliminating shopping and dining and going to films. Sad. Will greatly miss the chalk festival.
A 30 year tradition that surely the city can find another location for. It’s only been at Paseo for 15 years. Where was it before that?
For many years it was held on the public space in front of City Hall. Perhaps Pasadena will invite it to return.