Spreading good messages with chalk

The Rockville Centre Guild for the Arts and the Youth Council teamed up to bring the community “Chalk Talk on the Walk” — an opportunity for people to decorate the sidewalk outside Village Hall with important messages for children and teens.

The idea came from Joan MacNaughton, the executive vice president of the Guild, who read an article about a similar program in the New York Times. Families will be able to use free chalk to write messages and draw pictures on the sidewalk relating to a different theme every week.

“I thought it was really clever and a great way to convey messages that people might be interested in,” MacNaughton said.

MacNaughton brought the idea to Wayne Lipton, the president of the Guild, and they brought the idea to the Youth Council. The two groups are co-sponsoring the event.

Every Saturday morning starting July 13 and running through Aug. 17, families will be able to come out and participate, weather pending. Each theme will have a different theme that the drawings and messages should be based around. The first week’s theme is Good Values.

“We’re trying to promote good lifestyles, whether it’s food and nutrition or substance abuse awareness,” said Beth Hammerman, the chairman of the Youth Council. “It’s a community project.”

The drawings will run on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Afterward, participants will be able to enjoy refreshments courtesy of Bialystok & Bloom.

“Instead of negative graffiti, it’s positive graffiti,” Hammerman said.