This past Sunday morning at 11:15am, a crowd of eager Third through Fifth Graders gathered in front of Chase Bank on Orange Avenue in Coronado. In front of them, the women of the Coronado Junior Woman’s Club (CJWC) gathered a stack of assignments to hand out to the young artists.
On October 15th, each of these children had submitted an elaborate, Halloween-themed drawing to the Coronado Junior Woman’s Club to apply for the privilege to paint a shop window along Orange Avenue. CJWC started the annual, free Halloween Window Painting activity over 30 years ago. “It’s an honor to continue this long-standing tradition,” said Gloria Rodriguez of CJWC, who co-chaired the event this year with Sarah Rotherham.
Third to Fifth Grade students from Silver Strand, Village Elementary, Christ Church Day School, and Sacred Heart Parish School are invited to participate. After each student (or a student and a friend) submits their drawing, CJWC members evaluate the artwork and then send out acceptance letters to the students who have been selected. The letters arrived on Wednesday, October 21st, and the painting took place on Sunday, October 25th.
Before the event, CJWC members prepare each participating shop’s windows with protective butcher paper and painter’s tape in order to block off the area that students are permitted to paint. On the day of the event, the students then receive their drawings back as well as a photo showing which shop windows they have been assigned. CJWC also provides window paint, brushes, and paper towels for the students, and then sends the artists off to transform Orange Avenue into a Halloween-themed walkway.
In front of the Coronado Private Bank, two girls were painting a large window.
“We’re sisters,” Kiana joked, giggling, with her neighbor and friend Jackie. “We drew this picture together. We divided the paper up into little bubbles, and everything I drew I am going to paint, and everything she drew she is going to paint.” Both were excited and not shy about applying paint to the window, but Kiana seemed more at home because she participated in the event last year.
Next door at Crown Veterinary Hospital, third graders Michael and Hudson were hard at work painting the glass door of the vet clinic. “We drew the picture together,” Michael explained. “Hudson did the Pumpkin Man. I did half of the graves, and he did the other half.”
Gloria Rodriguez of CJWC said that 65-70 kids participated in the event this year, and most are not dual entries. However, she explained that “friends request to paint together, and we love to accommodate them. It’s a childhood memory they can take with them.”
The CJWC members agreed that their favorite part of the event is meeting the artists themselves. “Seeing the excitement of the day on their face… it’s priceless!” said Gloria. She also extended thanks to the shopkeepers of Coronado. “Shopkeepers love it, and I really think it brings out the kid in them. We couldn’t do it without them, so a big shout out to our shopkeepers!”
The shop windows will be decorated this weekend for Halloween, so be sure to admire them during trick-or-treating on Orange Avenue this Saturday, October 31, from 3:30pm-5pm.
