#ChalkTalk makes it to Courthouse Square

A large chalkboard in a wheeled frame has appeared on the Jasper Courthouse Square.

This is the final installation of the Dubois County Leadership Academy project called ChalkTalk. Members Dean Gogel of Ferdinand, Courtney Knies of Jasper, Luke Rasche of Huntingburg, and Steffi Schmücker of Jasper, created the ChalkTalk boards as their capstone project for the 2015 class.

The boards were found last year as renovations began on the Maple Park Elementary School in Huntingburg. They were actually from the Huntingburg High School and had been stored at Maple Park after the high school was demolished.

As the chalkboards were set to go to the dump, the team decided to repurpose them into a fun, community conversation piece.

The first ChalkTalk boards were installed at Ferdinand’s 18th Street Park last August. The team also supplied Schnellville two boards to install a set similar to Ferdinand’s. Huntingburg will include four boards in the planned Market Street Park.

All of those are stationary, but the one in Jasper can be moved around. According to team member Courtney Knies, it will probably stay on the Square. Currently, the board is in front of Libby’s Gourmet Ice Cream.

Knies plans on supplying a mailbox to hold the chalk and erasers in the next week or so and then it will be available for anyone to draw and write on.

For the future, the team is promoting artists to take photos of their images and invigorate conversations online through social media. By using the hashtag, #DuboisCoChalkTalk, community members can follow, view and share the creations from the boards.

Here is our original story: https://duboiscountyfreepress.com/duboiscochalktalk-creating-community-conversations-and-fun/