Celebrate Beall Avenue’s vibrant transformation with art, fun and community spirit at the Beall Avenue Asphalt Art Celebration and Dedication during a street festival, from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10 at Gibbs and Beall streets in front of VisArts, 155 Gibbs St. in Rockville.
Per the City of Rockville, “The street festival will mark the completion of the Beall Avenue Bloomberg Asphalt Art Initiative, a dynamic street mural that revitalizes the streetscape with color and creativity. Participate in the Chalk Riot Roadway Coloring Book activity to add your touch to a massive chalk outline of the mural and explore the benefits of public art in enhancing our city’s spaces. There will be opportunities to meet the mural artists, enjoy family-friendly activities and see the mural up close.
Rockville, in partnership with VisArts, was among 25 North American cities chosen last year from a pool of 200 applicants to receive Asphalt Art Initiative grants through Bloomberg Philanthropies. The $25,000 grant from the Bloomberg Asphalt Art Initiative supplemented funding from Rockville’s Art in Public Places program to create the mural directly in the Beall Avenue roadway.
This first-of-its-kind project for the city makes Rockville Town Center more attractive for residents, visitors and businesses. It is paired with traffic-calming features and other safety improvements to shorten pedestrian-crossing distances on Beall Avenue, including a new alignment between MD 355/Hungerford Drive and North Washington Street, creating one travel lane in each direction, buffered bicycle lanes and on-street parking and loading spaces.
For more information about the Beall Avenue Asphalt Art Initiative, visit bit.ly/RkvAsphaltArt. Photo courtesy City of Rockville instagram.