The nonprofit Rogers Park Business Alliance is excited to host Chicago’s only chalk art festival Chalk Howard Street on Saturday, August 22, from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. The family-friendly festival presenting large-scale optical illusions returns to transform the street surface into a canvas for national, local, and first-time chalk artists along Howard Street between Paulina and Ashland, east of the Howard Red Line “L” stop. This free-admission festival features live music, artisan vendors, kids drawing, food and drinks— while offering striking and immersive street art experiences and street chalk squares available for public purchase. Chalk Howard Street is sponsored by Howard Street/Jarvis Square Special Service Area #19. For more information on the festival, visit chalkhowardstreet.com.
Photos: courtesy of Rogers Park Business Alliance.
Chalk Howard Street 2026 features nationally renowned 3D street artists Tracy Lee Stum and Jonathan Buggs as well as 2D street artists Elizabeth Niemczyk, Andrew Vickers, and Yosmer Urrieta, who will create vivid and interactive chalk drawings for art enthusiasts and festival attendees. Chalk Howard Street will also offer a limited number of 4’x4’ street chalk squares available for purchase to individuals, families, and groups who wish to have a creative space and draw their own chalk art. Each square is priced at $25 and includes chalk supplies. To register and purchase street squares in advance, visit chalkhowardstreet.com.
Additional entertainment will include DJs playing music throughout the day, a kids-only chalk area, merchant vendors offering ceramics, apparel, art, jewelry, and henna, and food vendors serving empanadas, Jamaican patties, walking tacos, pizza, fruit cobblers, an array of desserts, and more. Chalk Howard Street is still accepting merchant applications, which can be found and submitted at chalkhowardstreet.com.
Howard Street Chicago, located on the edge of Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood and suburban Evanston, offers an unexpected, eclectic city experience. Howard Street offers an engaging personality represented by its vital diversity, welcoming nature, and entrepreneurial spirit. Howard Street/Jarvis Square Special Service Area #19 is a business improvement district managed by Rogers Park Business Alliance and by a team of Commissioners representing local businesses. www.howardstreetchicago.com
Rogers Park Business Alliance is a nonprofit organization that has served Chicago’s diverse Rogers Park neighborhood for more than 30 years. RPBA works to cultivate and sustain a thriving economic environment in Rogers Park, serving businesses and residents with a variety of public events and business initiatives. RPBA programs include the GROW/PROGRESANDO entrepreneurial training program, the Illinois Small Business Development Center at RPBA, annual Best of Rogers Park awards, Chalk Howard Street Festival, Taco Crawl, and the Glenwood Sunday Market farmers market. For more information, visit RPBA.org.