Borough Broadcasts Its Bucket List

As hundreds of May Fair vendors set up tents and tables Saturday, May 28, a group of local artists spent the morning installing a more unconventional  site.

The morning of May Fair, the six-member artist composite, who answer to the name [Will, Free] Collective, were huddled along a narrow stretch of  outdoor Garden Bar.

By 9:30 a.m., they'd erected three larger-than-life, plywood-backed blackboards. Littered with pieces of sidewalk chalk and broken bits of standard teacher's chalk, the group stood before the altar of their masterpiece, smiling.

The project initiative: similar to that of a bucket list. Each board was spray-painted, stenciled into a series of 96 fill-in-the-blank prompts: Before I die I want to _______. Repeat prompt, down the length of all three boards. 

To the artists' delight, their mission—originally planted as a simplistic seed—had, by May Fair's end, become an ornately-philosophical, merry-go-round force.

"I actually found the (chalkboard 'Before I die') idea from an artist named Candy Chang, who'd done it first," said Brandon Everett, one of the six [Will, Free] Collective artists. "Candy's idea originated in New Orleans, where they converted the wall of an old building into a 'Before I die' chalkboard.

"I found out about Candy's work in New Orleans, and I pulled my friends aside and said, 'Hey, this is a ridiculously cool idea,'" said Everett. "And for some reason, I just couldn't let it go. I really wanted to bring it to Collingswood."

Everett contacted Chang, who gave him a green-light to recreate the concept.

Collingswood was an obvious choice for the group of longtime friends, all of whom live in the borough except for Pennsauken resident Everett.

"My friends and I see Collingswood as a really progressive town. And we approached Mikey (Snyder, owner of Grooveground coffee shop), who is a really forward-thinking individual," said Everett. "He was all for it. It was perfect—we'd set up in Grooveground's Garden Bar, a really high-traffic area, during May Fair."

Everett said May Fair was the perfect medium to display the boards.

"It's a project that was meant to be seen. May Fair definitely let that happen," said Everett, who estimates more than 150 festival-goers chalked their life dreams.

Some responses were light and humorous—"Before I die, I want to ride a unicorn;" "Before I die, I want to adopt donkeys."

Others, said Everett, were heartbreaking. 

"Through the whole day, the most moving response came from an 11-year-old boy," said Everett. "This kid just walked up, picked up a piece of chalk, wrote his message, and left. He wrote, 'I want to see my mom.'

"But that's what you get with the wall, either heartbreaking moments, or belly-laughs," he said. "The funniest response of the day was, 'Before I die, I want to get a unicorn tattooed on my face.' It's another reason we wanted to bring the wall to Collingswood; I knew it would generate a lot of responses from insanely creative people."

From conception to creation was quite a process.

"We got three, quarter-inch pieces of plywood, primed them with white paint, and finished each with two coats of blackboard paint," said Everett. "We painted for about two weeks. I'd say the entire process took about 30 hours to put together."

[Will, Free] Collective—Brandon Everett, Lisa Petite, Jenny Pilong, Louie DeVito, Holly Coleman, and Steve Kocher—were amazed with the response. 

"All six of us were at the wall (during May Fair) for the whole day," said Kocher. "To be a part of May Fair is one thing, but to have such a hit at May Fair was absolutely amazing. To see something we put so much time and effort into succeed...and knowing that this all started as three blank boards, laying in my garage."

After all 96 Before I die ____ slots were filled in, May Fair-goers began getting restless.

"When we saw how crowded the boards were getting, we flipped them over so people had more space to write," said Everett. "Then, when the reverse sides were filled, people started writing between the lines."

But at 4:30 p.m., just 30 minutes before May Fair ended, monsoon-style rains washed over Collingswood, wiping the boards clean. 

It's a good thing, said Everett, that "Before I die" didn't leave with the May Fair. 

"The boards are staying up until next month," he said, adding that when weather and natural causes wipe the slate clean, people can stop by Grooveground for another chance to list their life dreams. 

The wall will be available in Grooveground's Garden Bar—located at 647 Haddon Ave.—for visitors' use until Friday, June 10, the day before Collingswood's monthly Second Saturday event.

On Second Saturday, all six [Will, Free] Collective artists' individual works will be featured at Grooveground. 

For more information about the group, visit their website, at willfreecollective.com. Those interested in becoming part of the artists' collective may email willfreecollective@gmail.com.