Chalk It Up to Life: Roxanne Gay, Chalkfest, and Unretirement

70 Ways to Leave Your 60s

After my 69th birthday, my 70th rotation around the sun started strong.

We had two events planned for the first weekend in June: hearing author Roxanne Gay and attending ChalkFest.

First up, the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. The festivities kicked off with the first of its Lit!Series quarterly reader and writer gatherings with bestselling author and cultural critic Roxanne Gay.

Held at The O'Shaughnessy at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul on Saturday, June 3rd, “An Evening with Roxanne Gay” also featured three authors from Roxane Gay Books, an imprint of Grove Atlantic. Lindsay Hunter, J. Vanessa Lyon, and Kelly Sundberg all talked about their journeys from writers to published authors.

The evening ended with a Q&A session. In The O'Shaughnessy lobby afterward, the authors signed their books for attendees.

On Sunday we went to Maple Grove’s 9th Annual Chalkfest, the largest in Midwest.

Located in Downtown Main Street between Elm Creek Boulevard and Arbor Lakes Parkway, more than 50 artists from around the country as well as five international artists competed for prizes.

Between the art, food trucks, and a live music stage featuring Cat Perkins, there was something for everyone to enjoy.

The artists used chalk paint for the parts where people could participate in the painting, like where I’m standing. The 3-D art was amazing and jumped off the street.

We thought the one on the right was the best 3-D because it seems like they were standing.

How do they do that?!?

This artwork by Ever Galvez won the best 3-D category. It’s amazing how they can make the art jump off the street.

The best 2-D artist was Wolverine by Tonya Neilson…amazing.

Prizes were also awarded to Elizabeth Niemczyk for Best Amateur Artist and Emma Larson for Best Student Artist.

In May when we returned to the Twin Cities, we knew we had to attend to some family issues. Little did we know the extent of our involvement.

So, June started strong…

Long story short, we’ve unretired for the time being. We’re preparing a house for sale, working with an estate sale company, and working in the family business while battling some medical issues. Good thing we’re resilient!

There is so much going on, I didn’t have it in me to write a post last week. So, for a while, I’ll escape by sharing our adventures from last summer…and we had many of them.

First up next time, our trip to Asheville, North Carolina.