The War on Chalk continues, but the fearless chalkers receive assistance by a female UK contingent!
Recently at FreeKeene.com, we have chronicled the War on Chalk, where some local busybodies have been removing beautiful art, and peaceful phrases chalked by both activists and locals, over the past several weeks.
The War on Chalk escalated to violence in early June when Matthew “Yankee” Oldershaw was pushed into the fountain at Central Square, hospitalizing him with serious injuries.
Yankee, once out of the hospital, scheduled a family chalking event in Central Square.
One of the complaints about chalking in downtown Keene has been that it is upsetting to international visitors, in addition to locals. Over the period of several hours, multiple families and others came through the park and joined in the chalking. It’s fun!
At one point, a large number of young ladies from the UK stopped in. Rather than being offended by the chalking, they were eager to join in and leave their temporary marks on Keene. Afterwards, they joined the Keene Hopscotch Preservation Society for an impromptu hopscotch session.
The day was a smashing success and not a single grumpy chalk hater came through to talk trash or clean up the beautiful artwork. Word is they came out later to clean up after everyone had left.
The city council is currently working on a possible ordinance to ban chalking. Stay tuned to FreeKeene.com for the latest.
