A composite image pairs a three-frame sequence of a passerby playfully stepping through a chalk “snake” after accepting a joking challenge with a panoramic view of the artwork that became the centrepiece of an evening of conversation, photography and spontaneous participation at Stuart Park. (Randy Millis photo composite)
I wasn’t looking for a story.
I’d finished what I needed to do for the day. I was tired. I had a few hours before the last bus, and I really didn’t feel like going back to the shelter just yet.
Not because there’s anything wrong with the shelter.
Oddly enough, I’ve started to think of it as home, at least for now.
So I rolled down to Stuart Park with my camera and sat on a bench.
For a while I just watched people.
Then I noticed it.
Someone had gone to a surprising amount of work drawing a giant chalk snake across the promenade. It stretched far enough that people couldn’t help but notice it, yet almost everyone walked around it as though it wasn’t there.
I changed benches.
Instead of sitting beside the piano, I parked myself in front of the snake.
Because I have a habit of talking to complete strangers, I started making things up.
“You have to go through the snake.”
People looked at me.
“It’s a bylaw,” I said.
Some laughed.
Some asked if I was serious.
“If you’re eating ice cream, you get bonus points.”
“If you don’t want to go through the snake, you have to play the piano.”
One woman chose the piano.
Another family chose the snake.
Before long I wasn’t photographing a chalk drawing anymore.
I was photographing permission.
Children led their parents through the curves.
Adults who had probably intended to walk straight through the park suddenly found themselves weaving back and forth across yellow chalk because a complete stranger insisted it was the rules.
I became the unofficial snake marshal.
A young woman using a single underarm crutch walked by with a friend. I joked that she couldn’t just walk past the hopscotch.
She laughed.
Turned around.
And did it.
Nearby, children covered the pavement with chalk drawings while skateboarders floated through the air for split seconds at a time. A little girl sat down at the public piano. Later, another visitor did the same. An RCMP officer stopped to greet a little boy he was meeting for the first time. Hours later he recognized me, remembered my name, and smiled when I emailed him the photograph.
As the evening wound down I met a young woman carrying a Fuji camera.
She told me she was “just playing around.”
I laughed.
“No,” I said.
“You’re a photographer now.”
We talked about newspapers, editors and making pictures. I passed along a few names and encouraged her to keep shooting.
Then she asked to see what I’d been photographing.
I handed her my phone.
She slowly scrolled through the gallery I’d made in just a couple of hours.
The snake.
The skateboarder.
The piano.
The little boy.
The hopscotch.
The families.
She stopped.
“You shot all of these tonight?”
“Yeah.”
“On your phone?”
“Yeah.”
She looked back at the photographs.
An adult and child share an electric scooter ride across Stuart Park on a summer evening, another quiet moment captured during an evening documenting everyday life along Kelowna’s waterfront. (Randy Millis photo)
An adult and child ride together on an electric scooter across Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna beneath a dramatic evening sky. Captured during an evening of street photography, the image reflects the ordinary moments of family life unfolding alongside chalk artists, musicians, skateboarders, police officers and evening strollers, each adding to the shared story of the waterfront.
After being jokingly challenged by photographer Randy Millis to “play hopscotch,” a woman using an underarm crutch surprised everyone by happily hopping along the chalk course with her companion at Stuart Park’s waterfront promenade. (Randy Millis photo)
A woman using an underarm crutch playfully hops through a chalk hopscotch course with a companion at Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna. The moment came after the photographer jokingly asked if they were going to play hopscotch as they walked past the chalk drawings. Instead of continuing on, the pair turned the joke into reality, creating one of the evening’s most memorable moments and capturing the playful spirit that unfolded around the waterfront as strangers encouraged one another to join in.
A young cyclist balances on a bicycle while reaching across the keys of the public piano at Stuart Park, turning an ordinary stop along the waterfront into a playful musical moment. (Randy Millis photo)
A young cyclist leans from a bicycle to play the public piano at Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna without dismounting. Captured during an evening of street photography, the image illustrates the spontaneous nature of the waterfront, where music, recreation and curiosity blended together as people of all ages interacted with the park in unexpected ways.
An adult and two children work together on a growing collection of sidewalk chalk drawings at Stuart Park, where an ordinary stretch of concrete became a canvas for creativity and play. (Randy Millis photo)
An adult and two children create sidewalk chalk drawings along the Stuart Park waterfront promenade in downtown Kelowna. Captured during an evening of street photography, the image shows the collaborative spirit that emerged as families, musicians, skateboarders and passersby shared the public space. What began as a few chalk drawings gradually transformed into a gathering place where strangers stopped to watch, participate and interact.
Families, joggers and evening strollers pass through Stuart Park while a young child pauses to draw with chalk on the waterfront promenade, illustrating the spontaneous mix of recreation and community that unfolded throughout the evening. (Randy Millis photo)
Pedestrians, runners and families move through Stuart Park’s waterfront promenade as a child concentrates on drawing with sidewalk chalk. Captured during an evening of street photography, the image reflects how public spaces naturally become places for play, conversation and creativity, with strangers sharing the same space in different ways without ever formally meeting.
A skateboarder launches into an aerial trick near Stuart Park’s waterfront promenade on a summer evening, adding another layer of motion and energy to a park already filled with music, chalk art and families. (Randy Millis photo)
A skateboarder performs a flip trick while practicing near Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna. Captured during an evening of street photography, the image reflects the mix of recreation, performance and everyday life that unfolded along the waterfront, where musicians, children, families, police officers and passersby all became part of the same unfolding community scene.
A child plays the public piano while families stroll through Stuart Park on Kelowna’s waterfront, where chalk art, music and spontaneous play transformed the promenade into a shared community space. (Randy Millis photo)
A child plays the public piano at Stuart Park while pedestrians pass along the waterfront promenade. Another young child sits nearby drawing with chalk as families move through the park on a warm summer evening. The photograph reflects the atmosphere of the evening, where music, chalk art and everyday interactions turned the public space into an informal gathering place for people of all ages.
An RCMP officer greets a young boy during a chance meeting at Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna. The officer later explained the child was the son of a friend he was meeting for the first time. (Randy Millis photo)
An RCMP officer extends his hand to a young boy seated beside a bicycle at Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna. After seeing the published photograph, the officer later met the photographer again, recognized him by name, and shared that the child was the son of a friend he was meeting for the first time. The image captures a quiet, human moment during an evening spent documenting everyday life along Kelowna’s waterfront.
It struck me that nobody had come to Stuart Park looking for a story.
Not me.
Not the people who drew the snake.
Not the families who wandered through it.
But for a couple of hours, a piece of chalk on the sidewalk invited complete strangers to laugh, play, talk to each other and become part of one another’s evening.
I never learned who drew the snake.
I hope they know it worked.
Because by the end of the night, dozens of people had gone through it.
And almost every one of them left smiling.
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