San Rafael Street Painters Celebrate Summer Of Love Anniversary

SAN RAFAEL, CA – City streets transformed into a canvas during Italian Street Painting Marin Saturday and Sunday in San Rafael.

Matching Marin County Fair's theme, this year's festival marked the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, celebrating the art and music of 1967. Participants created colorful 8-foot-by-8-foot chalk paintings that paid homage to the cultural revolution that started in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Drawing from iconic posters, artists and musicians of the time, more than 100 Madonnari, or street painters, participated in the annual two-day festival along Fifth Avenue and A Street in downtown San Rafael. The event also featured live entertainment and face painting.

Launched in 1994, the festival is a program of Novato-based EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases, a nonprofit that aims to accelerate biotech innovation for rare disease treatments through science-driven public policy.

Artwork created by the winners of EveryLife Foundation’s Rare Artist Contest was displayed in the Rare Artist Gallery during the event.

Image via Fresco