Jade Aubrey
A live spray painting festival takes place this weekend at the Riverfront just south of the Gateway Arch.
Dubbed both the largest graffiti festival and largest graffiti wall in the world by Guinness World Records, Paint Louis brings over 400 local, national, and international artists together to tag and paint a two mile stretch of floodwall along the Mississippi River.
Jade Aubrey
The almost 30-year-old festival has been a yearly event since 2013. But Bryan Walsh, Artist Coordinator for Paint Louis, said tagging the wall was cool long before that -- starting back in 1997.
"It was a group of friends, teenagers, and early 20s [who would] hang out. People who were intrested in graffiti, skateboarding, hip hop and punk rock," Walsh said. "The flood wall became a place to hang out that they might not get kicked out of otherwise."
Jade Aubrey
Once the wall is completed, it will feature 2 miles of graffiti and murals. Walsh said the artists are typically designers, tattoo artists, muralists and other creative endeavors by day.
Paint Louis starts today and runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Sunday. The event features local DJs, food trucks, vendors, and Paint Littles -- a kid's event running Saturday and Sunday at noon. Walsh expects the festival will draw around 10,000 visitors total.
