Sidewalk chalk is legal once again in the city of Anoka

Four years ago, a protestor scrawled a statement in chalk on the plaza outside Anoka City Hall.

The message? Praise for the city manager’s dog.

It was one of many innocuous drawings scribbled to tease city officials in response to Anoka’s ban on chalk drawings — a quirk of an ordinance banning displays on public property. The law, which was broad enough to prohibit hopscotch on city sidewalks, drew national attention and sparked a debate over free speech.

But this month, the City Council washed away those criticisms. The council amended the law to allow water-soluble chalk drawings in public.

After the vote, Council Member Sam Scott posted a photo on Facebook of a hopscotch board he drew outside City Hall.

“Here’s my contribution to celebrate the change,” he wrote.

City officials said the ordinance restricting displays, such as flags, art and signs, is aimed at protecting aesthetics and preventing the destruction of public property. It was approved in 2021 in the aftermath of massive protests across the Twin Cities and country, on the heels of the police killing of George Floyd and during turmoil over COVID-19 lockdowns.

When the law passed, the backlash came quickly.

“That whole thing blew up into people from Louisiana saying, ‘Anoka is the place that bans chalk,’” Skogquist said at a recent council meeting. “It became a pretty huge thing.”

Several activist groups protested the ordinance to advocate for free speech. They took to the plaza outside City Hall and chalked it with positive messages, peace signs and hopscotch boards.

At the time, one resident told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the year before, in 2020, she drew chalk murals of Mr. Rogers and messages of peace on the steps of Anoka City Hall following the killing of Floyd. She called the chalk ban “needlessly callous.”

Anoka never enforced the sidewalk chalk ban, Police Chief Andy Youngquist recently told the council. He said the city never received a complaint about anyone drawing with chalk.

City Attorney Scott Baumgartner said the change acknowledges that chalk doesn’t cause lasting damage, like spray paint could. He said the city has worked to protect city property without restricting free speech.