Every summer, the sprawling concrete canvas of Wausau’s 400 Block transforms into an interactive gallery and art exhibition where crowds come to watch local talent bloom in real-time. For lifelong friends Bria Polzin and Kate Saari, Chalkfest has been an annual opportunity to express their artistic ambitions and chart their personal growth since age 11.
Now, after seven years of quietly honing their craft on the surrounding sidewalks, the two friends are stepping out of the crowd and into the spotlight, side by side, as featured artists at the annual art festival.
“It’s one of the best things about Chalkfest for me, personally — that we’ve grown and gotten to be able to do it together,” Polzin said. “It’s just something extra I look forward to every year.”
But Polzin and Saari, two local 18-year-olds, aren’t the only ones looking forward to this year’s event.
Chalkfest is one of Wausau’s signature summer happenings. Every June, artists from around the state (and beyond) register for one of nearly 400 available sidewalk spaces around the 400 Block.
“They get a box of pastels, they bring all of their creativity with them, and they make a piece of chalk pastel artwork on the 400 Block,” said Brooklyn Hess, Wausau Events executive director. “They have two days to make their art piece. The public is welcome to come and watch all of the amazing art take shape on the block.”
This year’s festival starts Saturday, June 27, at 8 a.m. when artists are allowed to begin work on their squares. As the Chalkfest draws to a close on Sunday afternoon, participating artists have a chance to finally get up off their chalk-smeared knees and peruse the 400 Block, taking in the colorful art of their peers. The artists vote for their favorite pieces, and the top five vote-getters at 4 p.m. are named the following year’s feature artists, where they will be given a larger, more prominent canvas to display their work.
It’s all part of Wausau’s “Big Weekend,” Hess said — a special summer celebration that draws out-of-town crowds to Chalkfest as well as Wings Over Wausau, held at the Downtown Wausau Airport June 26-27. Just a couple blocks away from Chalkfest, at Whitewater Park on the Wisconsin River, the ACA North American Whitewater Open Canoe Slalom Championships will also be taking place June 24-29.
“It’s when all the big fun stuff is happening in Wausau over the summer,” Hess said. “We offer a free event shuttle that runs in between Chalkfest and Wings Over Wausau so you can be sure to attend both of them. We don’t want you to miss either one … It makes a big impact in bringing the community together to do something fun and enriching.”
Polzin and Saari first participated in Chalkfest in 2018, at age 11. Polzin said she was active in taking art classes from an early age, but that changed after participating in Chalkfest, which has since been her sole artistic outlet every year.
“We kind of have an ongoing joke: it’s like I save up all of my art skills for this one weekend,” Polzin said.
Saari’s art interest started in the classroom, too, but over the years she became more and more involved — eventually painting murals on private businesses, local buildings and in school. She credits her early experiences with Chalkfest as a defining moment in her artistic career.
“It’s definitely made me more passionate about art because it was the first time a wider audience saw my stuff,” Saari said. “It’s made me really try a lot harder with my art.”
Saari now sells her paintings and drawings and plans to soon open a website where they can be purchased.
But her favorite medium is still chalk.
“It’s just kind of an extra challenge that I really love and appreciate because painting on a canvas is easy,” Saari said. “Changing your perspective — because you’re not drawing something up-and-down, you basically have to see it from a bird’s-eye view and you’re crawling on the floor — it’s just really fun to figure out those challenges.”
Indeed, chalk art is one of the more physical art mediums. Artists find themselves working on a rough surface on their hands and knees for long hours, often under the baking sun. The concrete canvas offers distinct physical challenges, too.
“I don’t use gloves or any sort of hand protection,” Polzin explained. “Your raw finger works so much better getting the chalk into the cement for blending and working it in. It works so smooth to blend. So by Sunday afternoon typically my fingerprints are worn through and it takes a few weeks for them to go back to normal.”
“You have this rough area where you’re blending all these things and your fingers start bleeding, and if you look really closely in the art, you’ll see blood in it because you break your fingers open,” Saari said.
Participating artists cover the entire age spectrum, from senior artists to young kids first experimenting with chalk like Polzin and Saari back in 2018. Event organizers also offer a Children’s Chalkfest component, which allows young artists to explore their artistic talents on a chalkboard or a sheet of art paper alongside the rest of the artists.
“Encouraging young people to participate and be creative will always be important,” Hess said. “It’s always important to facilitate young people finding their voice. And I think there is no better way of doing that than encouraging that kind of creativity and participation in your community.”
In many cases, the artistic process can be just as interesting as the finished artwork. That’s one of the things that makes Chalkfest so unique as an art exhibit: the art is not on display at the start of the event. It is created throughout Saturday and Sunday and only completed at the very end. Instead of just drawing inferences from the art, spectators can gain insight on the artist’s process and technique as it unfolds right in front of them.
“The public has such a great opportunity to really understand how a piece of art is created and to see how people do different techniques,” said Amy Frolik, Chalkfest committee chair. “It’s so fun to see something as it’s getting started and the different layers that people use and the color choices they use. Then you can come back an hour later or at the end, and they’ve worked on all their highlights and lowlights and they really make things pop, or they’ll finish eyes and it just can really change in those last few hours.”
Those last few hours are different for every artist. Some, like Saari, are focused on the final touches that bring their hyperrealistic approach to life — a singular focus that allows her to judge fairly decisively when the piece is done. Many others struggle with that “one last touch” desire to keep improving their square.
“What I struggle with throughout Chalkfest is when to stop because I always feel like I could add a little bit more or touch up something else,” Polzin said. “Sunday afternoon is always hard for me to decide, OK this is complete, this is done. But once I do, I go around and look at everyone else’s and admire all the hard work that was put in.”
For Polzin, the nonstop interaction with attendees is part of the unique charm of making art at Chalkfest.
“I love interacting with all the people, especially kids,” she said. “I love it if I can hear the whispers behind my back, like, ‘oh look at what she’s doing.’ So I love interacting with people and they are always so supportive. One year I did a Disney Moana picture and I had tons of little girls come by and admire the princess. And I’ve had a few extra pieces of chalk just for them to use their finger to help ‘color it in’ with me.
“It’s just so fun interacting with people because I used to be one of those little girls walking around admiring the art. And now I’m the big girl doing the art. So I always respect and love when people come and talk to me and encourage me.”
Talking and interacting with viewers can be too much of a good thing for Polzin, who sometimes needs to be reminded that her work needs to be complete by Sunday afternoon.
“My problem, too, is that I love to talk,” she said. “I love chit-chatting with people, so sometimes I’ll have to be forced to put my headphones on so that I’ll actually work because otherwise I’ll get to talking and then I won’t get as far as I need to go.”
By contrast, it’s usually headphones on from the get-go for Saari, who prefers a more focused approach. In recent years, she’s adopted a more hyperrealistic style that requires her to pay close, sustained attention to her drawing. While she may not engage in as much conversation, Saari still deeply appreciates feedback she hears from viewers.
“Hearing people’s appreciation for it is so special,” she said. “Being able to make something myself and be proud of it — even though I’ll go back a couple days later and there’s bike tracks all over it, or it’s washed away because it rained — it’s a little upsetting, but just to know that it was there for a little bit and people I never met before walked past and took pictures with me, it provides a sense of community that makes it the most rewarding.”
Years of dedicated participation has paid off for the two friends, starting two years ago when Saari was named the featured artist and got to work on the center space of the 400 Block. For her, it was a powerfully emotional moment of artistic recognition.
“I teared up and I was just beyond excited,” she said. “I couldn’t believe I had gotten it. I remember looking back at my mom and she had been crying and it was just something so special.”
Polzin received honorable mentions for three years straight before being announced as a featured artist this year.
“Last year I felt a little bit of pressure,” she said. “Just pressure on myself because I had gotten recognized the past three years, so it was always just a thought in the back of my head like, ‘what if I don’t this year?’ I know I’m still good at art. It’s just always a little pressure I put on myself to try to maintain those expectations.”
Polzin’s 2025 artwork was a depiction of Katniss Everdeen from “The Hunger Games,” her favorite movie series. Similarly, Saari did a piece featuring Anakin Skywalker from “Star Wars,” her favorite movie character. With both their art pieces channeling a personal touch, the friends were able to reach the top echelon of artists in 2025 and were both named featured artists for this year’s festival – where they will work side by side once again, except this time on larger spaces.
“This past year when my name had been called again, I was beyond excited but nothing will ever beat the feeling I had when I heard Bria’s name be called as well,” Saari said. “They were announcing it on the mic and people were clapping. Bria and I were screaming and jumping up and down and laughing and definitely interrupting whatever they were saying next, but we didn’t care because I was just beyond excited that my best friend is going to be a featured artist with me. I couldn’t believe it. I was over the moon, so excited.”
“Last year was definitely my favorite year so far at Chalkfest,” Polzin said. “It was extra surreal to get top five because my childhood best friend Kate also got top five, so this year we’ll both get to draw next to each other on the stage. It’s just kind of a full-circle moment.”
This year, Polzin is following up on the good mojo of last year by depicting a scene from another favorite movie of hers: “Top Gun.”
“I’ve recently discovered I like to do movies because everyone knows it and can recognize it. This year is the 40th anniversary of ‘Top Gun’ because it came out in 1986. The joy of the movie is everybody kind of knows it – especially with the new movie that came out a few years ago. I love when I’m drawing and everyone behind me knows what I’m doing.”
Saari will be tackling another beloved franchise: Spider-Man.
“I’m excited because I know a lot of people love Spider-Man and I think it’ll be fun for adults and kids to see maybe their favorite superhero,” she said.
Come Sunday evening, Polzin and Saari will brush the pastel dust from their raw hands and admire their finished pieces one last time. Soon after, their vibrant chalk art will inevitably face the elements, eventually washing down the storm drains of Wausau’s 400 Block.
But while the chalk itself is fleeting, the friendship these two have built on that concrete is anything but. This weekend, they aren’t just creating temporary masterpieces — they are celebrating a summer tradition as longtime friends, side by side, right where it all began at age 11.
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