Frontline Foundations Inc.—a substance-abuse treatment program for young adults—is hoping to hold its inaugural Hooked on Art fundraiser in Downtown Chesterton on Saturday, Sept. 29.

The Park Board has already green-lighted the festival, slated to include live-art demonstrations by street-chalkers, sculptors, and others.

Now Frontline is asking the Town Council to close Broadway between South Calumet Street and Second Street as well as Second Street south of Broadway to the alley, to give the live-artists some room to create.

“We want to make the Hooked on Art Festival unique to Chesterton,” organizer Patty Raffin told the council at its meeting Monday night. “We’re hoping to open it to all different kinds of art and media, to make it different from other art festivals. Street-chalk, music, theater, crafts, clay. It goes with the town’s ‘Artcentric’ theme. We’d like to bring all the arts together for a very proactive visual approach.”

“This is a launch,” Raffin added. “This is a first-time thing. The first year is going to be tough. We’re cold-calling people. We’re asking for your support to get this off the ground.”

Police Chief Dave Cincoski recommended the execution of a contract similar to the one which formalizes the relationship between the town and the Wizard of Oz Festival. Frontline Executive Director Amber Hensell said that she would provide Town Attorney Chuck Lukmann with a draft contract to review.

Frontline Foundations, based in Chesterton, is a state-certified, faith-based substance-abuse treatment provider which serves young adults 18 to 28. It’s been in operation for five years and provides treatment to many clients referred by the Porter County Drug Court.

Frontline is planning to cap the Hooked on Art Festival with an auction of art created by its clients, through an art recovery program begun several years ago.

In other business, the town’s contracted Dunes-Kankakee Trail consultant, Gregg Calpino of SEH Inc., reported that a final draft report on the preferred route of the trail through town will be in members’ hands by the end of the week.

Calpino did note that members will see a couple of changes in that report.

First, SEH is recommending a phasing of the Broadway portion of the route. Specifically, there would be shared bike lanes in the first phase until such time as funds are available to construct dedicated separate lanes. SEH has estimated the total cost of the town’s portion of the D-K Trail at $1 million per mile, for a total cost of $6.5 million.

Second, SEH is recommending against striking south from Broadway by way of Second Street, which would present “a lot of challenges for a separated facility.” Instead, SEH is recommending Third Street or Fourth Street as the “better technical option,” which would take users to West Indiana Ave. and then east to South Calumet Road.

By consensus, members authorized the Chesterton Fire Department to hold a “Fill the Boot” fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 25, at the intersections of West Porter Ave. and Eighth Street, 100E and 1100N, and possibly Eighth Street and Broadway.

Posted 8/14/2012