Arts & Entertainment Community

Chalk one up for family unity

Posted on August 10th, 2026 By: Carolyn Bick

Charlie Sikes was just 12 when she and a small family cohort created their first mural at the annual Chalk the Harbor event in downtown Gig Harbor. At the time, it was just Sikes’ immediate family, plus her artist uncle, her aunt, and two cousins.

Sikes’ grandmother joined the second year and brought a camera to document the mural get-together.

Little did they know they had started a tradition.

Sixteen years later, that small cohort of chalkers has grown to 25 people. Among them are friends who travel to Gig Harbor every year to create a chalk mural together outside the Russell Foundation Building at 3025 Harborview Drive. The group’s massive annual mural has become one of the event’s main attractions.

The extended Sikes family poses with their mural at the 2025 Chalk the Harbor on Aug. 15, 2025. Photo courtesy of Charlie Sikes

The family that arts together, stays together

Sikes credits her grandmother and great-aunts for “really being the glue to our family and just making every time we get together just so much fun. I do know that’s not the normal case for everybody to have such a tight-knit family. But for us, it’s amazing.”

“And now,” she continued, “it’s our job, my job, for our group to make that decision to keep going. And I’m glad to see my cousins do it. We all enjoy getting together every year. I do think we’re making that choice to stick together. I want to recognize it as a choice to give it the value it has.”

One of those ways is through their annual murals. Sikes, an artist, is in charge of coordinating the murals every year.

“I did not intend to become the leader of our thing, but one year, my uncle just handed me a big piece of chalk and was like, ‘Hey, it’s your event now.’ And I went, ‘What?’” Sikes remembered with a laugh. “I’ve been doing it ever since, and everyone really likes it.”

Sikes draws upon nature, particularly the sea, for her inspiration in planning the design. She works around themes of conservation and respect and love for nature.

A smaller Sikes family contingent started the mural tradition in 2012. Photo courtesy of Charlie Sikes

Engaging in art

Coordinating these murals has also been a lesson in management and helps to keep Sikes’ artistic skills varied and limber. She said that planning a large, chalk mural isn’t just a departure from her usual medium of watercolor — for that, all she needs is a basket of supplies — it forces her to think entirely differently.

“Chalk is something you really have to prep for, especially when you’re going that size. A lot of times that will influence what I choose to do, based on how much chalk we have and what color,” she said.

The experience of setting up murals has helped her plan her own, personal art pieces. “There’s an overlap. And I love that it keeps us doing art as a group. And I find that motivates me to do art more. I’m a very do-I-have-time-to-do-this kind of person, because I have a very busy work life, but it makes me engage in art more often, which is always a plus.”

The Sikes family’s 2025 mural. Photo by Vince Dice

Chalk challenges

The chalk itself also behaves differently than other forms of color mediums, like colored pencils or paint. The sheer bustle of activity can pose challenges to creating a large piece.

“You’re dealing with a lot of dust, especially when you’re covering big areas. That can muddy your drawing really quickly, so it’s a lot of controlling [the chalk],” Sikes said. “And when you’re dealing with so many people all walking around in the same area, if someone steps on a piece of chalk — it’s part of your mural now.”

Sikes arrives at the designated chalk spot at 7 a.m. on the morning of Chalk the Harbor to make sure the spot is clean and ready for people to work on. By the time everyone else gets there, she has laid out the design in a light chalk sketch. She also prints out the design for everyone to see.

“And then they can just kind of go from there,” she said. “And I’m not too much in control. I just let everybody start contributing. Once you have the base down, it’s a free-for-all, you know.”

The Sikes family’s enormous and colorful chalk murals draw crowds of onlookers every year at the Russell Foundation Building. This was the family’s 2023 effort for Chalk the Harbor. Photo courtesy of Charlie Sikes

Artistic excellence not required

The entire family has grown as artists — even if they are not tremendously artistic outside this one event. Members have learned how to layer and build color, as well as to go with the flow if something doesn’t go according to plan.

“A lot about working with people who aren’t as artistic is just being able to roll with the flow, you know. Someone did it and they did it slightly different than you planned it, and that’s how it is now,” Sikes said. “It’s trying to be inclusive in that way where everyone’s going to bring something different.”

They have also learned how to use paintbrushes to spread the chalk so that a stick will last a bit longer. Sikes also makes sure to set aside a tub of chalk for the little kids who inevitably want to join in: “It’s a welcome add.”

What is this year’s mural?

This year, she said, the group is trying to come up with a fun t-shirt they all can wear.

“My mom has befriended the local group of crows. It may be a little crow theme,” she said. “We’re trying to come up with a group name, and we’ve landed on ‘Chalk the Flock.’ And it’s like a family too, you know? It’s like we’re a little flock of people.”

And Sikes tries to make that flock of people bigger every year. Leading up to Chalk the Harbor, she invites people to the event; during the event, the group invites passers-by to get in on the action. Sikes’ mother specifically asks visitors to write where they are from.

Charlie Sikes designs the murals, typically depicting water creatures and nature themes. This was the Sikes family’s 2024 mural. Photo courtesy of Charlie Sikes

“We usually get like 50 or 60 different, random locations of people who are visiting Gig Harbor for the first time. Or they live here, and they used to come from somewhere else,” she said. “[It’s] is a really cool way to interact with the people walking by.”

As for what Sikes is planning for this year’s mural, you must wait: Sikes describes herself as “a last-seconder.” She said she is in the midst of revisiting old ideas she had not gone with in the past, and she wants to explore a more three-dimensional perspective, because of the success of one year’s mural that featured a three-dimensional-looking dragon.

“When you took the picture, it looked more real,” she said. “We brought foam weapons to pretend to fight it! That was pretty fun.”

The Sikes family mural in 2021 featured a fire-breathing dragon and foam weapons to fight it. Photo courtesy of Charlie Sikes

Chalk the Harbor

The Gig Harbor Downtown Waterfront Alliance’s Chalk the Harbor is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, along Harborview Drive. The event will include live glassblowing demonstrations, a professional chalk artist, a new community art project, and live music.

Chalk the Harbor 2025. Photo by Vince Dice