The colorful 38th I Madonnari Italian street painting festival is appearing in the form of numerous handcrafted chalk art works on the asphalt at the Santa Barbara Mission. It takes place Saturday through Monday on the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. It is a benefit for the Children's Creative project bringing arts education to county schools. 

Annually about 80,000 students are reached through the effort of this project. This festival has its roots in line with a sister festival in Grazie di Curtatone, Italy. "Our claim to fame is that we are the first street painting festival in North America. We have international artists who come out," said Executive Director Kai Tepper.