Supercrawl puts new face on James Street North

A globe has crashed through a car windshield leaning against the entrance to Bar Michelangelo on James Street North.

The impact has chopped the sphere in half, leaving one side stuck in the glass and the other half transformed into a flower pot sitting on the sidewalk.

On an average day, this scene would seem bizarre. But on Saturday, it fit right in, as five blocks on the entire street were shut off from traffic for artists to display their work.

It was local artist Linda Hind’s first time displaying her work at any Hamilton art crawl, let alone a day-long Supercrawl.

“I did this to show we have to take care of our world better. We’re trashing our world … the car’s a polluting device and we make them and use them every day,” the 48-year-old said.

“I love the Supercrawl for (closing the street),” Hind said. “To close the street off and only have pedestrian traffic is definitely a real thing we need to do more in the cities. We have to start cutting back and walk more.”

Saturday was the second annual Supercrawl in Hamilton.

While local artists have been featured in free art crawls on James Street North every second Friday of each month for four years, this year’s Supercrawl is longer than last year’s, stopping traffic from York Boulevard to Barton Street East.

Organizer Tim Potocic said he wants to add blocks to Supercrawl in following years, adding he hopes to see the entire street shut down for the festival in the future.

Potocic said more than 20,000 people attended the Supercrawl, doubling his expectations. Last year, the event drew about 3,000 people