{"id":503453,"date":"2026-10-21T23:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T23:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/503453\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T23:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T23:02:11","slug":"crowds-flock-for-sidewalk-chalk-the-renegade-rip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/503453\/","title":{"rendered":"Crowds Flock for Sidewalk Chalk \u2013 The Renegade Rip"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Marketplace was partially closed this weekend for the Via Art\u00e9\u00a0 event, which took place Oct. 18-19.\u00a0 Shortly after walking in, it was really a sight to see. The event spanned about two parking lots and part of the sidewalk in the middle of the Bakersfield Marketplace, with attendees filling the space. A local band played, and attendees were greeted by an array of colors, artists sketching, and, of course, lots and lots of chalk.<\/p>\n

Via Art\u00e9\u00a0is an annual event sponsored by the Bakersfield Museum of Art and has been successful enough to reach its 28th consecutive year, which took place this weekend. The event is integral to the Museum\u2019s funding. According to Victor Gonzalez, the museum\u2019s Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, \u201cIt is the museum\u2019s biggest fundraiser for the fall season,\u201d he continued, \u201cand it helps all the funds go back to help making our exhibitions possible\u2026 making the arts more accessible\u2026\u201d Victor stated. Accessibility is vital to Gonzalez because it creates a sense of community in town. He states, \u201cWhen this event started, it kind of consisted of a lot of outside artists coming to Bakersfield to participate. Within the past decade, it\u2019s transitioned from outside artists to local artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artist Julio C\u00e9sar Jim\u00e9nez, who participated in the event for his 16th time, agreed<\/p>\n

\"Chalk<\/a>Chalk Drawing of an Orangutan driving a 67\u2019 mustang by Julio C\u00e9sar Jim\u00e9nez. (Izzy Flores<\/a>)<\/p>\n

with Gonzalez\u2019s claim. \u201cIt\u2019s really beautiful\u2026 it brings the community much closer together.\u201d He continued, \u201cI\u2019ve known peers that know other peers that I\u2019ve met in Bakersfield, so it contributes a lot\u201d Jimenez stated. Jimenez also credits the event organizers for being so accommodating to its artists as a reason why he keeps coming back. He stated, \u201cThe light you can work as late as you can there\u2019s festivals that I participate in where the sun sets and that\u2019s it, but here\u2026 I can put as much passion as I want to.\u201d Jimenez ended by saying, \u201cIt\u2019s been a great 28 years, inspiring and connecting people together\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Marketplace was partially closed this weekend for the Via Art\u00e9\u00a0 event, which took place Oct. 18-19.\u00a0 Shortly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-503453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}