St. Charles residents will once again get to paint Riverside Avenue as part of community art project

St. Charles residents once again will have the opportunity to paint the city red – along with other colors – during a community art project.

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Isla Madigan, 5, of St. Charles paints the intersection of Riverside Avenue and Walnut Street in St. Charles at the Paint the Riverside event hosted by the St. Charles Arts Council on Saturday, July 30, 2022. (Dominic Di Palermo)

After the success of last year’s Paint The Riverside community street painting project, the St. Charles Arts Council again is hosting the event. On Saturday, May 13, community members are welcome to drop by and help paint the intersection of Riverside Avenue and Walnut Street in downtown St. Charles.

“I think that projects like this speak to the creativity of the community and to the belief in creative thought.”
— St. Charles Arts Council Executive Director Kathryn Hill

Paint and brushes will be supplied. Last year’s inaugural event attracted an estimated 300 people, more than St. Charles Arts Council Executive Director Kathryn Hill expected, given that it was the event’s first year.

“Hopefully, we’ll get just as many people this year,” she said.

Hill started the event last year as a way to bring the community together to celebrate the arts.

“I was the director of an arts organization in Michigan and this is one of the projects that we used to do every year,” Hill said. “It’s colorful and it will get attention, which is a large part of what we’re trying to do, just bring attention to the arts and all the events that are happening here in St. Charles.”

Last year’s Paint The Riverside project took place July 30. This year’s event has been pushed up to May 13 so the project can be shown during the two-day St. Charles Fine Art Show on May 27 and 28. The Fine Art Show will take place on Riverside Avenue between Main Street (Route 64) and Illinois Street.

“We thought it would be nice to have it done before the St. Charles Fine Art Show,” Hill said. “I think they estimate that 10,000 people come to the Fine Art Show. We thought that to have the street painted would be fun for them to see. I think that projects like this speak to the creativity of the community and to the belief in creative thought.”

The St. Charles Arts Council is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the arts, creativity and culture in the community.

Like last year, EarthPaint, a Wood Dale nonprofit organization, will supply the paint for the Paint The Riverside project. EarthPaint recycles latex paint.

“[EarthPaint] brings five-gallon tubs of this recycled paint,” Hill said. “And the paint is just wonderful. We wanted to be a little more Earth-friendly.”

Information about the project and the St. Charles Arts Council is available at the St. Charles Arts Council’s website, stcharlesartscouncil.org.