BY KAREN BOSSICK

Those attending the Sun Valley Arts and Crafts Festival Aug. 14-16 will have a colorful crosswalk to prance across Eighth Street on from Second Avenue to Atkinsons Park, thanks to the kids who take part in Ketchum’s Summer Recreation program.

The kids did it on behalf of safe streets.

They had hoped to paint the crosswalk right after Bike to School and Work Day in mid-May but had to wait until all of Ketchum’s chip sealing projects had subsided.

The geometric shapes are very colorful. PHOTO: Karen Bossick

The new crosswalk features geometric shapes in the colors of pink, turquoise blue, purple, and green. And the youngsters involved added their handprints to the middle.

The project wasn’t as simple as splashing paint on the pavement.

The kids began at 9:30 a.m. shutting the road down. Next, they blew the road with a leaf blower and painted the crosswalk white.

After the paint had had time to dry in the 80-degree sun, they taped off sections with blue tape. They then set up a table with paint, paint brushes, water, painting shirts and stencils. And, finally, at 12:20 p.m. they went to work painting in the color blocks.

The orange clogs sitting along the crosswalk have since been removed. PHOTO: Lolo DeHaas

At 1:20 p.m. they let the first layer dry while they took a water break. They then painted designs on top of the color blocks.

Finally, at 3 p.m., they were done, ready for passersby to admire their work.

The road was reopened about 5 p.m.

“We had a great time in spite of the heat advisory,” said Lolo DeHaas, a Ketchum artist who oversaw the project.

The artists autographed their work with handprints instead of signing their names. PHOTO: Karen Bossick

DeHaas said the kids hope to paint another crosswalk on Tenth Street the last week of summer camp, which is the week of Aug. 17.

“That’ll be more of a ‘Let’s get excited to go back to school and plan out our bike routes!’ crosswalk for awareness,” she said.