Dolphins, dragons, mermaids and even Marilyn Monroe and the Incredible Hulk made appearances Saturday on Main Street for the seventh annual Chalk It Up! sidewalk drawing contest.

    The event drew 150 artists of all ages, who crouched over cement squares from First to Sixth avenues, smudging their hands and knees with blue, purple and green dust. Contestants were divided into age categories and had 90 minutes to decorate their designated squares. Several winners were chosen from each category and were awarded prizes donated by Hendersonville merchants.

    "I'm hoping to win a prize, but if I don't, I'm just out here for fun," said 7-year-old Madison McCollough. She and brother Robert, 5, moved last week to Brevard from Georgia and were coloring squares in front of Hannah Flanagan's Pub.

    Madison, who said she used to draw with chalk on her grandmother's driveway in Albany, Ga., was drawing a day and night scene on her square, with a sun on one half and a smiling moon and stars on the other. She chose her design just before the contest, but Robert said he's been planning his design for a while.

    On the way to the event, "he said he had hundreds of ideas," said mother Robin McCollough. Robert said he had considered drawing "a farm having a tornado" but decided finally on a volcano with dinosaurs climbing up its sides.

    "It just looks like I'm going to have enough brown," he said, filling in his volcano outline with a filed down stub of chalk. His design later won him a prize.

    The more planning an artist puts into a drawing, the better the result usually is, said Wil Irvine, a contest judge and Hendersonville artist.

    "If they come here with an intent of what they're going to do, it helps," he said.

    Irvine, who has been a judge for four years, said the annual task is always tough.

    "There are some very good and some just so cute, you want to take that kid home with you," he said.

    Barbara Hughes, sponsor and organizer of the event, said the contest was inspired by her three children, who used to decorate the sidewalk in front of her Main Street shop, Narnia Studios, with their chalk drawings. The first Chalk It Up! had 50 contestants.

    Hughes said she often hears children who pass by her store point out the spot on the sidewalk where they drew in previous contests. "They have this feeling that, for that moment, that's their part of Main Street," she said.

    This year's winners were as follows: Robert McCollough, Faith Granade, Sara Yarborough, Kayla McCann and Kristie Kim in the 5 and under category; Samantha Zarzaca, Jessica Rose, Savannah Taylor, Victoria Thomas and Page Nevel in the 6 to 8 category; Melissa Maltais, Nathan Daubert, Pamela Gessler, Lachlan Kirkman and Peter Lampley in the 9 to 12 category; Katie Hughes, Bethany Gessler, Chelsea Bober, Melissa Wooten, Beverly Russell and Cody Hughes in the 13 to 20 category; Laurie Foote, Minna Shirley, Brett Schmidt, Jillian Hosley and Rob Edmondson in the 21 and over category; Maya Burlingame, Joanna Collier and Cindy Bock in the charity category; and Yoriko Russell in the professional category. Russell has won in her category for the past three years, Hughes said.

    Spectators can view the art until the next rain.

By Harmony Johnson
Times-News Staff Writer
July 13, 2003