What's new at this year's Lake Worth Street Painting Festival and will artists beat the rain?
Tens of thousands of people will crowd into downtown Lake Worth Beach this weekend for the city's 31st annual Lake Worth Beach Street Painting Festival.
The free festival, which organizers say draws about 100,000 visitors each year, will shut down Lake and Lucerne Avenues and several surrounding roads as hundreds of professional and amateur artists use the street surfaces to complete elaborate chalk drawings.
The festival, hosted by the city government, will be managed for the first time by an organizing group with a well-known name: SunFest of Palm Beach County, which for decades ran the massive music-and-art festival of the same name in downtown West Palm Beach before announcing in November that it was postponed indefinitely.
The Street Painting Festival was long managed by a non-profit set up to run the event, but when that group dissolved itself in 2021 the city government took over festival operations.
That proved to be a time-consuming undertaking for city staff, so in December the city agreed to pay SunFest $271,000 to manage the event.
'They're just operating the day-to-day organization of the festival,' said Teanna McKay, the city's director of leisure services. 'We did that so the city staff can focus on city work.'
McKay said this year's festival will have a higher number of professional artists brought in to produce street art — 48 in all — along with hundreds of amateurs. All told, more than 600 people are expected to paint.
This year's event will boast more frequent shuttle service between the festival and free parking facilities at Palm Beach State College's main campus west of Lake Worth Beach.
Also new: scannable QR codes posted around the festival that attendees can use to look up information about the artworks in front of them and the artists at work.
Along with live music and a wide range of food vendors, McKay said the festival should draw more positive attention to the waterfront city.
'It's really an opportunity for us to showcase our hip and history community,' she said.
Weather conditions are good with rain chances low at 17% on Saturday and 8% on Sunday with temperatures in the mid to upper 70s both days. But you might want to wait until next week to check out the magnificent art — rain chances go up to 88% on Monday.
The festival hours are 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday.
Lake Avenue and Lucerne Avenue will be closed to vehicles between Dixie Highway and Federal Highway from approximately 6 a.m. Friday until 10 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Downtown Lake Worth Beach
When: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday
Cost: Free
Children: Street painting for kids is planned at the Children's Meadow
Pets: Service animals only
Entertainment: Food trucks and live music
Access: Free shuttles to the festival are planned from the Lake Worth Beach Tri-Rail Station and the Lake Worth Beach campus of Palm Beach State College, 4200 S. Congress Ave. The shuttles run from Tri-Rail 10 a.m.-6 pm. both days and from PBSC 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday.
Road closings: Lake Avenue and Lucerne Avenue will be closed to vehicles between Dixie Highway and Federal Highway from approximately 6 a.m. Friday until 10 p.m. Sunday.
Andrew Marra is a reporter at The Palm Beach Post. Reach him at amarra@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: The Lake Worth Beach Street Painting Festival returns this weekend
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You can reach him at jcoleman@ and follow him on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @JimColeman11. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: SunFest: Your favorite memories from West Palm Beach music festival
