An Edmonton community is bringing a classic board game to life. The large-scale Monopoly replica made by chalk is attracting spectators from all over the city.
“We saw it on Facebook I think and I just thought it would be good to come check it out. We’ve been doing chalk art ourselves, we’ve been kind of cooped up and we figured we’d come out and check out somebody else’s art,” neighbour Alissa Donaldson said.
Donaldson and her family are just a few of many excited to catch a glimpse of the large-scale monopoly game made out of chalk.
“People are being so creative and it’s just great to see,” Donaldson said.
“People just stopping by and saying: ‘This is so wonderful,’ and, ‘Thank you for doing this,’ it’s lifting the spirits of everyone right now,” Crestwood Community League and game artist Diana Steele said.
The idea came from four women in the community of Crestwood who first saw it done online.
“Someone said, ‘This would really be a great idea,’ and another woman said, ‘Yes we should do that,’ and before they knew it, they had four women on the sidewalk with 3D chalk,” Steele said.
But creating this work of art is no simple task.
“It’s taken four people on night one and they got six sidewalk squares done and then last night we did the remainder and that was five of us in total, it’s been two nights, in total it will be three nights,” added Steele.
Aside from the hours of precision drawing and painting, it was the opportunity to spend time outside and socialize with others that made the difference.
“Everyone is having socially distanced conversations which is wonderful because we’ve all been segregated from each other for so long, so it’s bringing out a lot of joy and people are very happy,” Steele said.
The artists accidentally bought 3D chalk, the mix-up has brought an unexpected but exciting element which makes the game really come to life with a pair of 3D glasses.
The sidewalk artists are planning on continuing the project along the same sidewalk and once it’s all done, they plan to play the game.