Paint the Town coming to Morrison on Sept. 21

MORRISON — The annual Paint the Town festival, an event that brings travelers from as many as four states to the streets of Morrison, is Saturday, Sept. 21.

During the event, children and adults rent squares on the streets of Morrison and color them in with paint.

Paint the Town started in 1994, organized by the Children’s Art Preservation Association, a group of art teachers, parents and the Chamber that promotes the arts in Morrison.

Initially, the event took on a different form from its modern evolution. In the first event, the town had an auction to display award-winning art around Morrison. In the auction, people bought a ticket to pay for other CAPA projects. Paint the Town was borne outside of the desire to allow everyone to experience and participate in the visual arts.

While they first judged the squares and gave awards to the winners, Barbara Bees, a member of the Paint the Town Committee, said the artists “didn’t care” for the competition.

“We stopped that after the second year,” she said about the effort to focus on promoting the event and the arts for everyone.

In the first event, 249 squares were set aside and CAPA gave out gift books, watercolor paint sets and an event T-shirt.

The event T-shirt still is given out and a new design is promoted every year. This year’s theme is “Peace, Love, Paint.”

To paint the streets of the town was an ambitious move at the time, Bees said, and at first, the group began with a mandate by the city to wash everything down at the end of the event.

At the first event, the mayor and City Council members viewed the art. A lot of people went to the mayor to ask to keep the art on the streets, citing relatives who hadn’t seen it yet, friends coming from other towns and to keep the art around the city. From that point on, the art is allowed to wear out naturally each year.

This year marks the 28th year for the event. The event rained out only one year, Bees said.

“We took one year in the mid-90s off because the event had grown so large that the committee was unable to keep up,” she said.

Over the years, Paint the Town has grown steadily, needing bigger boards and committees to handle the event. One of the biggest events held about 1,904 squares.

Before the pandemic, the event featured about 1,600 squares each year.

“We’re coming back to the numbers seen before the pandemic,” Bees said. “Last year, we were close to 1,200 squares. We had people come from four states. There’s music in the background and a lot of food.”

“It’s a joy to do this,” she said. “It’s for the kids. It’s all expression. They can paint with their friends and peers in a special place.”

Sometimes people don’t realize what goes into the event.

“We’re generally getting six to eight thousand pounds of paint,” Bees said. “Depending on the year, we’re getting an excess of 2,000 T-shirts. It takes a lot of volunteers on the day of and it takes a good core group such as the board. It’s for families and it’s definitely a family’s event.”

Paint the Town has received grants from the Illinois Art Council and been recognized by art groups. Over the years, other groups have started to copy the event.

“The rewards help us put on other events,” Bees said. “But the point is what we’re giving to the community and what we are giving to the children.”

It’s $20 to register by Sept. 19 and $25 on the day of the event.

Bees said people should bring their own brushes and glitter.

“The only thing we encourage is that people use the provided paints,” Bees said. “I want to thank the community for their support for this event for so long. We’re so happy as an organization that we can create an event loved by the community and their love reflects right back to us. We can be totally exhausted at the end of the day and we can walk up and down the streets and know that it was worth it.”

CAPA welcomes volunteers to join the event. The group can be reached on its website and the City Hall webpage.

Participants can walk in the day of the event, Bees said.

“We have plenty of squares,” she said.