Arts & Entertainment

Comics Event Brings Free Weekend of Fun to Chelsea

The celebration is open to children throughout Washtenaw County.

This weekend, the third annual Kids Read Comics Celebration will come to the Chelsea District Library and downtown Chelsea, where 16 shops and restaurants will take part by hosting artists and activities.

The weekend will include interactive events with comics and animation professionals, free comics giveaways from major publishers and a kids’ costume parade down Main Street. Festivities run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and noon until 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Kids Read Comics, a nonprofit organization, showcases comics’ unique blend of words and pictures and creativity. Over the course of the weekend, kids and teens will have plenty of opportunity to meet and talk with more than 40 comics creators. Visitors will also be able to participate in hands-on cartooning and storytelling workshops and attend panel discussions, art demonstrations and fun events like a improvisational quick-draw challenge. 

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The superhero costume parade begins at the library at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, and the day’s festivities continue with balloon making, a bounce house, airbrush face painting, kids’ crafts, a comics scavenger hunt and lunch with artists at Jet’s Pizza. Saturday activities specifically oriented to teens will be found around the Chelsea Clocktower Commons and include a drawing wall, a 25-foot climbing tower and cosplay classes, with a costume contest and masquerade party beginning at 5 p.m.

The Chelsea River Gallery will hold a reception from 6-8 p.m. for "Comic Jam," an exhibit of original comic book art on display from through June 23.

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Sunday will feature in-depth cartooning and storytelling workshops for kids, teens and adults, along with professional development workshops for teachers and librarians who will learn how to use comics on behalf of young people in their work settings.  

Special guests for the weekend festivities include Raina Telgemeier, cartoonist creator of the Eisner Award-nominated middle school comics memoir Smile; Ruth McNally Barshaw, author and illustrator of the popular Ellie McDoodle series of books; Barbara Slate, creator of You Can Do a Graphic Novel; Marc Sumerak, who writes The Adventures of Spider-Man and numerous other superheroes for Marvel’s all-ages line of comics; and Dave Roman, writer-artist of Astronaut Academy and an editor of Nickelodeon Magazine. 

“Our guest list is outstanding,” said Jerzy Drozd, Chelsea’s current artist-in-residence. “We have a whole bunch of talented artists working in a range of styles accessible to younger readers and teens.”

Those artists include some of Drozd’s own teenage students.
 
Kids Read Comics is a free event, with the exception of food purchases and material sold by guest artists. It is held in cooperation with the Chelsea District Library, the Friends of the Library, the Chelsea Center for the Arts, River Gallery Fine Art and with a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Additional information and a full schedule of events are available at www.kidsreadcomics.org.


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