​Easton Town Center
160 Easton Town Center
Columbus, OH 43219

Written and Photographed by Doreen Dawkins

​Artists use chalk to create large works of art while interacting with those who attend the event.

​Sidebar: The concept is based on Logan Square’s Robin Williams Mural. Lori’s genies are smiling and have eye balls and Robin Williams is in color and happy.

Why chalk art?
I was here a couple of years ago. I thought it was interesting, so why not? I am typically a digital artist. I like to run towards things that scare me.
Is this your first time doing vertical chalk art?
This is my first time doing chalk art.
 
Sidebar: I love that this event gives a platform for artists to display chalk art for the first time.

Is chalk your main media?
This is the one chalk event that I do every year. I usually don’t work with this material. I usually work in paint, drawing material like graphite or digital media.
What do you think of the vertical blocks?
I am a fan. This is my seventh or eighth year doing this. Usually, I am on the ground. Being able to stand and work is pretty nice this year. I think when people see the vertical chalk art, it pulls them into the event. People seem to be exploring the event more this year. 

My take:  
I love this event! I agree with Thom Glick. The addition of the 8’ chalk cubes “pulls people into the event.” Previously, if a person wasn’t paying attention they could walk right past the event and not realize it was going on. It amazes me the creativity on display. Eight or ten feet is a large area to cover with chalk vertically or horizontally. This is the mature lady in me comment, I can’t imagine wear and tear on the body, especially the knees. Although this event is scheduled until 6:00pm, if you want to interact with the artists, I suggest you arrive about 3:30 pm. Many artists were done and packing up around 4:30 pm.

Categories: Art  and  Things

​Sidebar: It is advertised that this festival is on the Scioto Mile. It is not! It is west of the River, south of COSI (Center of Science and Industry).

​Much of the festival was centered around music and dancing.

​Why did you come to the Columbus Caribbean Festival?
I support anything West African and Caribbean. I am for unification. We are all black. I’m about having fun together. We are not that different. If we came together, more we would be able to see how similar we are. The different types of music are fun. For example, reggae, soca, dance hall, hip hop, and afrobeat. It is all influenced by each other. It is fun to hear the different connections. 

Where are you from? How often have you come to this festival?
I’m first generation American. My mom is from Port-au-Prince. This my first year here. I am originally from New Jersey. In New Jersey, we have this every year.
How can this be made better?
Incorporate the Haitian culture and a little bit more of all the islands. There was only one tent that had Haitian food. It was good, but there should be a lot more Haitian food and music here. We have music that you can dance to just like Jamaican music. 

Where are you from. Did I see you dancing earlier?
I am originally from Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands, but I drove from Cleveland to be here. If you play soca music, then I will be up and moving around.
It looks like those dancing are shaking everything at the same time.
It’s never too late for soca. It is a whole body experience. Once soca is in your blood, you chase it. It’s like a high.
It seems like, with all that shaking, people would not be fat.
You see how good we eat. When I arrived, I put my chair down and got something to eat before I started dancing. 

Tell me about your work.
I try to have something for everyone. I have 4 children’s books that are best for 8 years old and under. It was important for me, as a black author and black self publisher to have black illustrators and African American main characters. I have a compilation of young ladies from 6 to 60 talking about getting along, keeping the peace, and working together. It has a companion journal.  My most recent book is the story of my life. It is a book of short stories from mens, womens, children and ancestors perspective. It is a great conversation starter regarding mental health. I have a book of poetry for adults. It goes through the ups and downs of my life’s journey. I have a non-fiction ebook about publishing your own book and a guide for getting grants.
Anything else?
I founded the Bridges book club at www.bridgesbookclub.com. Each month we have a featured author that is part of the group. We have best selling authors, publish authors and aspiring authors. 

​My take:  
This is a chill festival. I enjoyed watching those dancing. It is hard to describe. Although I have rhythm, I dare not try dancing for concern of pulling or straining something. It was good to see unity in action. People connecting around the music and dancing.

​Category:  Festivals

​240 Parsons Ave
Columbus, OH 43205

Written and Photographed by Doreen Dawkins

​I was thankful for the low 80s temperature with a slight breeze, as the closest lot was full and I had to walk from a few blocks away.

Tell me the concept behind your art car.
This is my second car. I don’t drive it every day. Greg Phelps was the inspiration for my car. In 2009, he was in Athens, Ohio. My wife saw and took pictures of his car. I thought it was kind of neat. A year and a half later, I did an art car. I have several themes; the front is my love of hockey. I did music in the back because one of my sons is into music, I like the beach; so, on the doors, I have the beach, then I randomly put freaky things on.
What’s up with it being for sale?
I am trying to downsize. I’m looking towards retirement in 5 to 7 years from now. It might be time for someone else to enjoy it whether they want to keep it the same or alter it.

Tell me about yourself and what you are doing.
I am from Pakistan. In Pakistan, I have been painting cars/trucks since I was seven (for 30 years).
Someone flies you in from Pakistan to paint their car?
Yes. I have a lot of friends in Columbus. Every year, Greg and Candy invite me to the Hot Times Festival. Every year, I paint cars in different styles.
 
The car owner wanted me to paint some kind of burning man (I went to the Burning Man last week).
 
Sidebar: I had no idea what a Burning Man was. According to the internet, it is where participants create a place of art and community. I still don’t know….

Tell me about the type of music.
We do lovers rock reggae, couples only reggae, and Old school reggae.
Are you a local band?
Yes.
Where do you play?
Woodlands Tavern on Third on Columbus, and Dank House Brewing in Newark

​My take:  This festival has a chill vibe. Most people were admiring the art cars, or sitting/standing around talking as they listened to the performers at one of the three stages. I had a chance to catch up with several people I haven’t seen since last year. This is a festival to just come relax, catch up, and connect.

​Category:   Festivals

​400 West Rich Street
Columbus, OH 43215

Written and Photographed by Doreen Dawkins

​The Urban Scrawl is more than artists creating large murals that are sold at auction to support arts programming, grant program, and direct artist support. This year, they had a break dance competition.

​Tell me about your piece and your participation in Urban Scrawl.
This is my first time doing Urban Scrawl. I was a little nervous. I have never painted this large. I usually do digital work. It is a summer piece about allergies. Since I have year round allergies, I feel stuffy and my nose is running most of the time. My goal is to capture the aspect of being stuffy. I have another piece about heat that goes with this one. 

​Tell me about your piece today and art in general.
All of my pieces are about uplifting blacks. If I had one word to describe, it would be afro-futurism. I portray the aspects of being black that are not usually portrayed. If I named this piece, it would be “God as a Black Woman”. I usually paint in oil, but this one is acrylic. 

Tell me about your piece today and art in general.
This piece is based on my heritage as a Navaho woman. I am showing different blankets that people wear or create. Also, the hats that people are wearing. You will see that a lot in Southwest culture, which is where my tribe is from.  My art in general revolves around Navaho heritage, and pow wow dancers. A pow wow is a Native American gathering where you can see dancing. These dances come from a long line of heritage. Overall, I represent native people from what you see in our heritage and from a modern aspect.
Is the hat that you are wearing a traditional hat?
No, this is a generic modern hat. The bandana around it is a native design. 

​Rob what are we doing this year?
This is based on Dr. Seuss’ McElligot’s Pool, which is about a kid that is fishing. The farmer tells him he is wasting his time. The kid keeps fishing anyway. He has a wild story with imaginary fish. Maybe, they aren’t imaginary. We don’t know. This is our spin on that.
 
Sidebar: Rob and Dan are nuts! This is my second year talking to them. They have fun producing art and include the participants in the fun, if you take the time to talk to them.

Tell me about your piece today and art in general.
This is our fourth year doing Urban Scrawl. We are married in real life, so we are stuck together until we die. He is a ceramicist and clay artist. I am a painter and art teacher. This piece is about the hope of the future in a cool kid that is a teen ager now. She is going to have to save the world because everyone else is too old to do it. It is based on a student I have, whose nickname is Chicken. She has the best attitude about life.
Looks like you have some layers going on.
We are trying to do textural stuff, for example, layers on layers. We both traveled to Cuba this Spring. That is all about layers and decay. We are adding that in as influence. We are going to paint her on top of it. The stuff coming out of her head phones are going to be more design and more color.

Tell me about your work today.
Today, we are using acrylic. We are painting a little girl playing hop scotch. This girl is looking up to the sky moving forward one number at a time. She is not afraid and she is confident. Tomorrow, we will be gluing large records. Imagine them being like balloons. Inside the record, we will write the phrase, “The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but it is too low and we reach it.” (Michelangelo according to https://www.azquotes.com/author/10049-Michelangelo)

Interview with Randy Crider
Tell me about the piece.
This is about our sixtieth mural. We don’t plan anything ahead of time. We all came in with sketches. How everything works together happens the day of.
How was the group formed?
We all met at a drawing group.
Anything else?
This is our third year doing Urban Scrawl. We are happy to be back. It’s a bit of a drive for us (Cleveland, OH).
 
My take:
I love this event! The artists interact with the attendees. Not only do we get to witness great art being created, but we get to connect with the artists. And its FREE! This is an event that you need to check out, if you love art. I was drawn to the young artists and those who were collaborating. It blows my mind how artists can come together and do one combined piece in the short amount of time.

​Categories:    Art and Festivals

​Columbus Commons
160 S. High Street
Columbus, OH 43215

Written and Photographed by Doreen Dawkins

There is plenty of reasonable parking ($5 event parking) in the garage across the street from Columbus Commons (Columbus Commons Parking Garage).  If you have been around Columbus for years, it is the same location as the City Center parking from back in the day.
 
Free food for all:

Interview with Darrah Metz
Tell me about the dogs.
These guys are trained as therapy K-9s. We have been doing this program since March, 2017. Mattis was our first. We were the first in the state. There are only 6 in the country. We built our program from scratch. We focus on victim advocacy, mental health and trauma. We work a lot with victims of crime, those suffering from mental health illnesses, and/or maybe in crisis. Also, the lingering effects of trauma. For example, victims during a trial, a court case, a counseling session, etc. Our job is to interact in the moment to reduce stress and anxiety. We are the first in the state to have 3 dogs. We can account for about 70 agencies across our country that have implemented this program. It is spreading, but when you consider that there are over 18,000 law enforcement agencies in America, still 70 is a small number. Our goal is to get the mission out. Policing isn’t the same as it was 5 years ago. We have to do better in our communities and meeting our communities half way. This is one of the ways we chose to do that at the Sheriff’s office.
How many people do you service?
I have over 500 hours of dedicated service with Mattis. I have been requested to do deployments with Mattis close to 300 times. If you multiply that by 3, we are getting up there and we are only in August. The fact that 1000 hours are being donated through our county to make our county better, our community feel safer and to make kids more resilient. That is what it is all about.
Are these your personal dogs?
They are owned by the Sheriff’s office. Mattis and Woodie were donated from breeders. Seargent Radcliff’s dog Kid, the standard poodle, is a trained therapy dog of his own. He donated her to the Sheriff’s office. Upon the dog’s retirement, Sheriff Baldwin will allow us to buy them for $1.
Surely the dogs don’t live at the Sheriff’s office.
They come home with us. They are with us 24/7. All their food, vet care, grooming and supplies are donated by community partnerships. We couldn’t do what we do without the community.
When they are off duty, are they just regular dogs?
When I go home, I take Mattis’ uniform off (his vest and his collar), my exact words are, “go be a dog.” I have another dog at home. They are thick as thieves. They play for hours. We all do a good job of keeping that balance for them.
If someone wants to donate or volunteer, how do they contact you?
Go to the Sheriff’s website. Click on programs, then therapy dog program and an email will be sent directly to our Sergeant. Here is the link: https://sheriff.franklincountyohio.gov/Programs/Therapy-Dog-Program

​Sidebar: I am a dog lover! It was priceless seeing children interact with the K9 unit.

Why did you become a firefighter?
I work in the recruitment department. I am one of the first people that touch the youth and people who are looking for a career. I am a pivotal point in peoples, lives because they are trying to figure out where their passion lies. To be able to touch the youth that look like me (of color) is important to me, because I want them to realize it is an opportunity for everyone.
 
How long have you been serving?
It will be nine years in September that I have been a Columbus Fire Fighter, EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), fire inspector, recruiter, and assisting with the board that interviews potential new hires. It changed my life to be looked at as a hero and to know the efforts I make in the community is changing someone’s life is priceless.
 
What is the criteria?
You need to be at least 17.5 years old at the time of application. You have to be at least 18 years at the time of hire or the conditional hire. You need to be a US citizen, not have any felonies, have a valid drivers license, and a high school diploma or GED. All requirements are listed on our website, www.columbus.gov/civilservice click on fire exams, then fire fighter.
Anything else?
We want you to reach out to us. If you have any general questions about what we do, our phone number is 614-645-6387. We have an opportunity where you can do ride alongs and you can view the recruits going through their daily routine. It is important to keep your nose clean, make good decisions, and know that every decision will affect your now as well as your future. We can schedule you at one of our fire houses or bring one of our trucks to your events.
What is the pay?
We will pay you about $60,00/year to attend the training academy, which is about 8 months long. Going into your 5th year, you are going to make around $90,000 /year.
 
We work 24 hours on and 48 hours off. That ends up being about 115 days a year. It is pretty cool to have that much time off to spend with your family and friends.
When you are scheduled to work and there isn’t a fire, what do you do?
You are supposed to be training, studying, hands on with the truck, chores around the house, community service, and public outreach.
 
Activities:

Interview with Antonio Smith
Your name sounds familiar….
I played for OSU from 2002 to 2006. I played in the championship against Miami. Unfortunately with lost the game against Florida.
Give me an update. What are you doing now?
We (with Roy Hall) started the Driven Foundation. We have programs and services for underprivileged youth in central Ohio and around the state. We happen to be out here with one of our good partners celebrating the kids as they go back to school. It is all about giving our youth an opportunity to see ahead and preparing them to be great leaders.
What is the website?
https://staydriven.org/  This is our 10th year. We have been plugging away with many services such as food outreach, literacy, and mentorship. We have been in the position to help those who are less fortunate, provide opportunities where road blocks and challenges may exist. There is a lot to do out here and we are just trying to do our part.
How does a person volunteer?
The website, https://staydriven.org/  Also, follow us on social media, Driven Foundation on all social platforms.

​Mascots:

​Youth performances:

Tell me about your group.
We work out of Columbus Recreation and Parks Department at Douglas Recreation Center. It is called Modeling with a Message.
It seemed like the message today was based on education. Is that the main message or do you pick a different message each time you perform?
We pick a different message each time we perform. We want to talk about breast cancer, bullying, black history, etc. Our children write their own message or they look up and recite messages to share with the community.
How does a young person or a volunteer become involved?
Show up to Douglas Recreation Center on Wednesday evenings at 6:00pm.
We work with children to build up their confidence and self esteem.
What is the age for participants?
6 to adult.      
Anything else?
We also work with Black Nativity. I am the children’s director for that performance. We start working with the children in September.
 
My take: Great location! Great Price (FREE)! Great connections. Free merry-go-round rides, free soda, free water, free hot dogs, free ice cream, free information, free handouts, free music, free entertainment, etc.  The volunteers were friendly. This was a family friendly event.

Category:   Festivals