Gettin' Chalky with YSP

What do you get when you have a sunny sky, children armed with chalk, foot stomping music, hot dogs galore, and the coldest Italian Ices this side of Alaska? You guessed right… you get York Street Project’s 12th Annual ChalkFest! This year’s event, held on Friday, July 30th from 12 noon to 2pm at Exchange Place Plaza in Jersey City, raised more than $34,000 to help women and children break the chains of poverty.



Once again, the children of The Nurturing Place along with their invited guests, The Waterfront Montessori School, took over The Plaza and created a chalk menagerie of animals, sea creatures, and practically anything that they could think of. The artwork was simply amazing!

All of the children, teachers and volunteers were clad in their official teal green ChalkFest t-shirts, transforming The Plaza into a beautiful rolling greenish blue Caribbean sea.



The musical tunes were provided by York Street’s own DJ “Big Ben”. Fun face painting designs were done by Anays Cartagena. New to the scene this year was Micky Magic who entertained the young and old with his delightful magical illusions.



Other special attractions at this year’s ChalkFest included the Balloon Pop Dart game. At $5.00 for 3 darts, if you were a good shot, you could have easily walked away with 3 cool prizes! Across The Plaza from the Balloon Pop Dart game was the new Blank Check game. This game was instituted to help promote public awareness to the true cost of living on a limited income.



Overall, a super day was had by all including the more than 500 lunchtime patrons who attended the event. A special thank you goes to Fidelity Investments, our Title Sponsor for the sixth consecutive year, and to Pershing for their Challenger Sponsorship. We also would like to thank Porky Products and Tropicana/Dole Beverages for their in-kind donations and a host of other local businesses and supporting sponsors for contributing to the success of the 12th Annual ChalkFest.



Mark your calendar to meet us on The Plaza for York Street Project’s 13th Annual ChalkFest on Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 12noon. See ya then!