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One of the region's quirkiest and most-anticipated cultural events, the free annual Street Painting Festival, first held in 1995, attracts some 100,000 visitors to the city each year. Over 600 artists and their chalk transform the city's streets into a vast, vibrantly colored living art gallery - at least until the next near-daily Florida afternoon rain. While the art is the main attraction, the festival also features a diverse selection of food vendors and a main stage with live entertainment.
Once sneered at by locals as crime-ridden and decrepit, Lake Worth Beach's downtown area is quickly becoming a regional hub fine visual arts and experimental music, dance, and theater. The area has an eclectic, "New Age-y" vibe. See "Do" for events like the annual Street Painting Festival and "Buy", "Eat", and "Drink" for shops, restaurants, and coffeehouses.
The headquarters of Palm Beach County's regional arts council houses exhibitions from local artists in its 2,500-square-foot gallery space and offers a visitor center, store, and educational programs featuring Lake Worth's sizable artist community. The building's south side is the vast canvas for a kaleidoscope-like mural of Martin Luther King, Jr.
One of the most popular beaches in central Palm Beach County, Lake Worth Beach's centerpiece is the old Lake Worth Casino building, which has been renovated into a unique shopping and dining destination and event space (despite the name, there is no gambling on the premises). The adjacent Municipal Pier is popular with fishers and also offers an outdoor bar and restaurant. Oceanside Beach Service rents chairs, lounges, and umbrellas, each for around $20 a day. Arrive early on weekends or expect a struggle to find parking.
Located in one of the oldest buildings in Palm Beach County, the Lake Worth Playhouse offers a variety of both mainstream and alternative programming. The theater's Main Stage hosts Broadway-style shows; dinner packages are available at several nearby restaurants. Other unique events include drag shows, radio plays, and an annual film festival. The 60-seat Stonzek Studio is a black box theater that displays independent films and small, alternative theater productions. In addition to its performance schedule, the Playhouse offers a number of classes for children and adults.