Children flocked to the streets of Aalst in East Flanders on 10 June to decorate the city's pavements with colourful chalk drawings in what has been dubbed the 'World Pavement Chalk Drawing Championships'.
The 'playful protest' came in response to a complaint made to local police on 7 June. The resident had lodged a complaint after children drew pictures in front of his door using chalk, VRT reports. The police intervened and eventually the drawings were removed.
Meanwhile, the city responded to the petty grievance with an entire day dedicated to drawing in the streets.
Credit: Leen Van der Heyden
Leen Van der Heyden, a resident of Aalst, told The Brussels Times that she jokingly created an event on Facebook for friends to mark the occasion, entitled 'World Pavement Chalk Drawing Championships'. But after numerous shares, the event went viral and over 1,000 people – locals and visitors – marked themselves as 'interested' or 'going'.
In the event description, she wrote "make Aalst, and by extension all of Flanders, a happier place. Brighten up the pavement with beautiful creations, leave a nice message for your neighbour and enjoy the beauty. Let children be children."
'A weekend of colour, positivity and joy'
"Everywhere in Aalst, you could see parents drawing on the pavement with their children. A chalk artist also came to create an interactive 3D chalk drawing," Van der Heyden stated.
"There were even shopping streets that teamed up to buy lots of pavement chalk so children could draw to their heart's content while their parents shopped or sat on terraces. Even the police eventually joined in. It became a weekend full of colour, positivity and joy."
The sight of parents drawing on the ground with their children gave her "goosebumps", she told The Brussels Times.
Children and parents drawing on the streets of Aalst. Credit: Leen Van der Heyden
Van der Heyden's children also participated in the event and said that they "liked being allowed to draw from one side of the street to the other and draw things that don't exist."
Mayor of Aalst Christoph D'Haese (N-VA) praised the initiative, stating "there is no place for sourness here. Long live playing children and their pavement chalk".
