Thursday, July 9, 2020
MERIDIANSOURCE.CA
VOLUME 3 I ISSUE 2
Olive Tree chalked up to community spirit TAYLOR WEAVER
EDITOR
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The Olive Tree closed out the month of June to the tune of a community chalk competition to help celebrate summer and have a bit of fun.
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If you’re walking by, you can’t help but smile if you see something cute on a driveway.
Kids ages 6-12 could enter the contest between June 15-19 by posting photos of their chalk drawings to Facebook, which were then judged by Jill Kelly at Red Bicycle Communications. “The whole idea of a chalk competition is, you draw something and then lay on your art and become part of the art,” said The Olive Tree’s assistant executive director, Jana Thompson. “We had kids parachuting, hanging from trees like monkeys, and we even had one boy
completely cover his brick driveway with chalk, and coloured each brick a different colour. There were some super cool and really creative ideas.” Thompson explained the idea for a chalk competition came as the non-profit was looking to host a summer event, “and due to COVID happening, we were trying to figure out what we could do to give the kids something fun to do at home and maintain social distancing.” The Olive Tree’s original summer event idea was not possible due to COVID19 restrictions, but Thompson is hoping to make that idea a reality next summer. “We wanted kids to be able to get creative, have some fun and hopefully win something,” she said. “Kids got to create their chalk art and share photos to our social media page, and Jill Kelly was the judge. We also had some awesome prizes in the form of a bike from Nissan and then two prize
Photos courtesy of Facebook packs from Walkn On Water Toys.” The Olive Tree saw a total of 30 entries in this year’s competition and is hoping to see interest grow next year as it also brightened up the community. “It’s something that brings joy, whether
you’re walking by and l o oking at it, or ju st seeing a smile on a kid’s face as they’re creating the art, it brings an aspect of joy and fun,” she said. “If you’re walking by, you can’t help but smile if you see something cute on a driveway.”