PHOTOS BY DAN ROSEN
South State Street
was crowded with
visitors, above,
while at left, T-
shirts displayed
this souvenir logo.
ARTM IX
Ann Arbor's art fairs drew 1,000 artists and 500,000 visitors.
LINDA R. BENSON
Special to The Jewish News
VW
Nether it is soft fibre dolls
you were seeking or
leaded glass wastebaskets
with matching soap
dishes, eight-foot bronze
sculptures, handmade leather clothing,
or avant garde jewelry made out of
polished rocks and precious metals,
chances are it was all on display dur-
ing last month's Ann Arbor Art Fairs.
Five hundred thousand visitors were
undaunted by rain or humidity to des-
cend upon the town — to see and be
seen, to shop, to eat at the street stalls
and to enjoy this rite of summer.
The annual happening, now 30
70
FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1989
years "young," started in 1960 with just
one fair clustered around the intersec-
tions of South University and East
University avenues, to help Ann Arbor
businessmen through the July dog days
of retailing doldrums. It was an idea
whose time had come, for the early
1960s brought a strong interest in
handmade arts and crafts.
The event has grown to include
three fairs, consisting of 936 booths,
1,013 artists, assorted street musicians,
food vendors and political protesters,
making it one of the biggest and most
prestigious summer art fairs in the
country.
Sales? No one likes to be to specific,
but last year's gross sales were
estimated at $25 million, and artists,
who come from as far as New Mexico,
western Canada and California and
have passed a juried selection process,
have been known to make as much as
$25,000 a day during the four-day
event.
A raucous street scene, a vibrant
marketplace, but is it art? Some might
debate it, but according to Marjorie
Levy, dean of the U-M School of Art, it
is "People. People appreciating, people
being curious, looking carefully, and
educating their eyes," she says. ❑