Paint Louis

Paint Louis
GenreHip hop
DatesAugust 30 - September 1, 2024[1]
Location(s)St. Louis, Missouri
Coordinates[2]
Years active1997 - Present
FoundersJohn Harrington, Jonah Anderson
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Paint Louis is an annual global community event happening over the American holiday Labor Day bringing together people practicing all four elements of hip hop including graffiti, breakdancing, rapping and DJs to St. Louis for three days of creation and performance.[3] The event started informally in 1995 as a "graffiti jam" and became more formalized in 1997 as noted with its 20th anniversary celebration in 2017. For the 25th year of the annual event, Paint Louis brought hip-hop pioneer KRS-One to perform at the event for free.[2]


The event is well known as the largest gathering of graffiti writers who have permission to legally paint the Mississippi River flood wall, along the Mississippi river all south of the Gateway Arch, deemed the "longest mural in the world" by Guinness Records.[4][5][6] Paint Louis is an international gathering of writers from around the world.[6]

  1. ^ Sophie Proe (30 August 2024). "Photos: Hundreds of graffiti artists make pilgrimage to St. Louis' Paint Louis festival". St. Louis Public Radio. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Everything We Saw at the Paint Louis Graffiti Event in St. Louis". Riverfront Times. 5 September 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  3. ^ "A little bit of history". STL Paint Louis. Archived from the original on 27 Oct 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  4. ^ Bernhard, Jimmy (3 June 2016). "Our Beautiful City: Paint Louis Graffiti Wall". KSDK. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  5. ^ "THE MURAL MILE (FLOODWALL)". Regional Arts Commission. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Paint Louis to Join Forces with Inaugural St. Louis Hip-Hop Week This Year". River Front Times. 27 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.