The Paint-In finally gets all 13 blocks of Moss Street back

Nancy Noble still doesn't quite believe the number. "Fifty thousand people — most people don't even believe it until they come here," the AGGV director told the Times Colonist. "And then they believe it."

That's Saturday's expected crowd for the 37th Greater Victoria Paint-In, and this year the whole street is theirs. The City of Victoria is letting producers use all of Moss Street again, after nearby construction cramped recent editions. A record 183 artists get the day to sell paintings, sculpture and Sally Chupick's three-inch cedar 'minis' straight to whoever wanders by.

Moss closes from Fort to Dallas Road, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with traffic still crossing at Fairfield. VicPD will run traffic control and site security, and event sponsor MAC Reno is parking a fleet of trucks as vehicle barriers, a precaution the gallery adopted after last year's Lapu-Lapu Day attack in Vancouver. "It takes a village," Noble said.

If you'd rather listen than stroll, the jazz duo The Meating recorded a live album on July 3 inside UVic's P0 parkade, 150 people packed under the concrete. "It seems illegal, which is the best part," Marc Micu joked. The record drops Aug. 13.