Ruby Szekeres Photos.
Parents, children, grandparents, and some of their furry four-legged friends knelt around the sidewalks of the Guilford Green with chalk in hand, bringing to life dinosaurs, cats, unicorns and beloved television characters. Some arrived by bicycle or scooter while others came on foot.
By the end of Saturday morning, bright designs lined the sidewalks, creating an animated throughway for all who came through the heart of the town.
That was the scene Saturday morning, as GreenStage Guilford ended its fifth biennial festival with a jam-packed weekend of events for artists and art lovers of all ages. Amid live music, puppetry, dance, theatre and visual arts, children’s activities from sidewalk chalk to author visits showcased the festival as a true celebration of multigenerational community.
“GreenStage is intended to be a large celebration of all of the arts,” said GreenStage Guilford Executive Director Peter Hawes. “We want to give people a perspective of all cultures … It’s just great to see festivals like these grow so much over the years.”
In previous years, Hawes said, GreenStage Guilford offered up to 40 events. This year, the festival scaled down, with 20 carefully curated offerings that more people could attend more often.
That was on display Saturday morning, as artist, author and illustrator Bob Shea led the creation of sidewalk art. A former graphic designer, Shea said he had never been to GreenStage before, and was glad to be a part of it.
As he kicked off drawing on the Green, he pulled from his own books, with creations such as Ballet Cat and his Dinosaur, who is usually pitted against something (there is, for instance, Dinosaur vs. Mommy and Dinosaur vs. Bedtime). To Shea, his characters are like his children; they're a part of him. Some are based on his son.
“All of my books are funny and I just get inspiration from all around me,” he said. Sometimes his books start with a character who “needs” a story, or a funny event he wants to retell for a young audience.
To create these friendly creatures, he uses his graphic design knowledge to wield the power of shapes. Saturday, Shea offered print-out tutorials who needed a little extra help.
Those weren’t necessary for attendee Nora, or “Nizzy,” as she’s called by her friends and family. After spotting the event on a poster at Guilford Art Center, Nizzy was curious to check it out and wanted to see what it was all about. Working next to her grandmother, Marie Kunesh, Nizzy created an Anime-inspired scene with cherry blossoms and a pagoda atop a mountain. She really wants to continue her art and turn it into something more, she said.
Shea hopes that budding artists will follow the same philosophy as he does. “I draw all the time and I don’t care if I’m good enough,” he said, finishing off a roaring dinosaur.
Shea wasn’t the only one who brought their vibrant touch and creative know-how to Guilford’s communal bookshelves. Victoria Kann’s Pinkalicious children’s series started with her three year old daughter’s obsession with pink and has turned into a series with over 80 books, a television show and an off-Broadway musical.
Later that day, pink took over the GreenStage. Clad in pink, Kann walked around the tent, greeting and taking pictures with her "pinkafans." She was honored to be at such a pinkatatstic event, she said. She then read from the book that started it all.
Or in her character’s words, “Pink! Pink! Pink!”
Pinkalicious tells the story of Pinkalicious Pinkerton, a fictional character who eats an excessive number of pink cupcakes, and turns pink from the tips of her pigtails to the ends of her knees. The doctor tells her that to go back to herself, she has to replace all pink food with green food.
The first night though, she can’t do it. She pretends to eat her greens and then sneaks one last cupcake late in the night. Then she turns red. All she wants then is to be herself, so she eats what she has to and is cured. The lesson, Kann said, is that it's ok to eat your favorite foods, but a person needs to have a well balanced diet as well.
Kann explained that the book is partly inspired by one of her daughters, who loved a certain pink princess dress so much that she wore it day and night. One April Fool’s Day, Kann decided to have some fun and composed an email to a fellow mom, recounting how her daughter had come down with a rare case of “Pinkitis."
The mother who received the email initially said how she was sorry that she would have to cancel their play date.
After learning that it was a prank, she told Kann that she should turn it into a story. Thus the earliest version of Pinkalicious was born. Although Kann started working on the story in 2003, it wasn’t until three years later that it was published. The first two books of Pinkalicious were co-written with her sister, Elizabeth Kann, who went on to become a doctor.
Saturday, Kann pulled out a large whiteboard, ready for an activity meant to pull in her fans of all ages.
“You're all going to help me write the story, Festivalicious!” she announced. Using a MadLibs- style template and the help from the crowd, Kann constructed a narrative with Pinkalicious and her brother Peter Pinkerton at its center, celebrating on the “Guilford PinkStage.”
The next activity drew excited cheers, as Kann held up a large basket wrapped with pink ribbon and filled to the brim with Pinkalicious books, clothing and tickets to performances of Pinkalicious in its current run at the Actor’s Temple Theatre in New York City. That momentum lasted as Kann happily signed children’s books, making them a little more magical.
This article comes from a graduate of the 2024 Cohort of the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative. Ruby Szekeres is a rising junior at the Sound School.