San Rafael Street Painting Festival
By Susan R. Norton
Just a hop, skip and a jump north of San Francisco and
across the Golden Gate Bridge, nestled in the Marin county city of San Rafael,
is one of Father Serra’s most beautiful churches named the Mission San Rafael
Archangel. In 1817 the first sanitarium in California was built at
this site in honor of its Patron Saint of the Healing Arts, Rafael. Hundreds
came from the foggy, coastal area of San Francisco to this warm and welcoming
inland climate.
 And
on the streets just below the church, on the second Saturday and Sunday of the
month of June, there is an Italian Street Painting Festival. It is an event for the whole family and has become rather
famous for this city, that still hovers somewhere between the 1950’s and 1960’s
in architecture and general, small town feeling.
 Some
60,000 people stream into San Rafael to partake in the appreciation of this
chalk on asphalt art for the hours of 9 am to 7 pm on this special weekend. They
come by bus, car, bicycle, motorcycle and stroller. They come to admire the
pavement canvases of 100’s of professional and non-professional, old and young
artists, all merging their designs together on this street gallery. This is
performance art at its best.
Along with the regular, flat art panels, there are also
fabulous three-dimensional creations with figures crawling out of the ground.
They are truly amazing.
Mark Wagner and sculptor Clayton Thiel have been combining
their talents since 2005, creating illusions of depth and dimension. They bring
characters up and out of the street and almost into your face. Another fantastic
creative artist is Tracy Lee Strum. She is well known in Asia and in the United
States for her street painting, murals, oil paintings and decorative Italian
Renaissance and Baroque trompe l’oeil style painting.
There are two stages with continuous musical entertainment
from classical to blue grass, from country to pop, from big band to Latin, from
jazz to funk rock. There’s something for every age group.
In the Piazza di Fontana, one can partake of Italian food
specialties such as shrimp bruschetta, Venetian bellinis, pastries, Torani soda
and coffees to die for. All food dishes are prepared and can be eaten onsite
while relaxing in the grassy plaza at the Bar Italiano.
 Bambinos can partake of goodies at the Bar
Bambini.
If you want to sit down for a break, try the Aroma Café at
1122 Fourth Street, just around the corner and out of the way of the crowds.
They have breakfasts, salads, hot sandwiches and combination plates with
Mediterranean fare. I so enjoyed a mini pizza with pesto, pine
 nuts, gorgonzola
and tomato. The house specialty is a New Orleans chicken sausage gumbo.
The proceeds from this annual event go to YOUTH IN THE
ARTS, a local program to educate and encourage the children of San Rafael to
experience and create their own art. Certain areas are set aside for the kids to
put crayon to the street.
If you are ever in the area or can plan to be in the area
for the second weekend in June, this hometown street painting festival is a must
see if only to watch angels climbing out of the asphalt and reaching towards the
Heavens.
Guidebook:
Where: 5th Avenue at A Street, just below the
Mission San Rafael Archangel in the Northern California town of San Rafael in Marin County
When:
The second weekend in June
Why:
The Italian Street Painting Festival
To eat outside of the Festival, try the Aroma Café for
great food and atmosphere. |
