Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wednesday, July 21, 1976
City ready for Art Fair onslaught
By LOIS JOSIMOVICH
Sculptors comb their studios
and attics for the polished and
transfigured bits of clay and
metal that will sell the fastest.
Painters touch up ornate pos-
ters advertising their master-
pieces of modern line and color.
Townspeople dream of hot egg-
rolls and tea under a dusty
maple on the Diag.
And meanwhile, as prepara-
tions for an Ann Arbor sum-
mer's four most crowded, chao-
tic and colorful days reach a
frantic peak among Art Fair
participants, there is another,
less noticeable undercurrent of
activity here.
THE CITY'S administrators
and merchants-those who run
Ann Arbor and those who keep
it running -- are getting ready
for the onslaught of some 250-
300,000 culture-starved people.
"There'll be enough people to
fill the football stadium a couple
of times," according to one
Chamber of Commerce spokes-
person.
But they aren't going to be
in the stadium. They're going
to be on the streets, and in the
rows of narrow stores that line
them.
"IT'LL BE mob city here,"
sighs Pizza Bobs' m a n a g e r
Andre Cynkin. Then, with a
laugh, "The strain on my mind
and body will be severe-it hap-
pens every year--but I'm look-
ing forward to it, in some
ways."
On State St., Liberty and
South University, where the
main clusters of booths will be,
book store owners are preparing
stacks of weighty tomes for
sidewalk sales, and other sales-
persons are following suit with
their own wares.
"It's a good time for us,"
says Tom Borders of Borders
Book Shop.
"People who work here like
to get outside for a while," he
adds conversationally.
"THE BIG PROBLEM is rain.
Every year we have some kind
of horrible storm."
The annual Art Fair thunder-
storm is anticipated by the art-
ists, who drape their booths in
giant plastic shrouds that flap
in the wind like sails on a gale-
ridden sea. But it usually comes
as a surprise to the visitors,
and they dash like herds of
lemmings toward shop doors
left open in the inevitably sultry
July weather.
The heat and the crowds
make the fair a great annoy-
ance for many store owners and
workers. Said one sales clerk,
who wished to remain annoy-
mous, "If I had my choice I'd
be way out in the country, but
I have to work."
TOM DRAKE, who runs the
South University Food Mart,
also finds the four days "a lot
of hassle," because so many
people come in just to buy pop
that they get in the way of
other customers. Also, Drake
refuses to raise his prices for
the fair as other merchants do,
and claims he gets "a lot of
flak."
But for a lot of other store-
owners, this event will be a
chance for some fun. Discount
Records on State St., for exam-
ple, is planning to bring some
live music out on their section
of the pavement, in the shape
of "Longhorn," a local band,
and a jazz group called "'2-5-1."
Fred Kreye, owner of the
Village Apothecary on South
University, looks forward to the
Art Fair because the artists
have become his friends over
the years.
"THEY'RE VERY nice peo-
ple, those artists," he says,
Kreye, and other South Uni-
versity store-owners like Jim
Marron of Camelet Bros. cloth-
ing store, let the people who
run booths in their vicinity leave
things in their stores overnight.
In return, the artists often give
them tokens of appreciation-a
vase, a painting, a hanging
plant, or maybe a small sculp-
ture.
Not surprisingly, the crowds
that shove and squeeze their
way around the mounds of art
objects will also be jamming
all the local restaurants, bars
and hotels. Campus Inn, the
Bell Tower, even hotels as far
out of town as the Briarwood
Hilton are expecting "a lot of
exhibitors, but a lot of visitors
too" for the week of the fair--
especially in terms of 'walk-ins.'
OF COURSE, there will be
traffic and parking problems
because of all the out-of-town-
ers. The police are re-routing
some traffic in bottleneck areas,
but no additional parking space
will be created. Cars will be
towed and fined as usual-al-
though, because of the extra
work this causes, "it's revenue
that is really unwanted," ac-
cording to traffic coordinator
Harry Kerr.
Police will be ready for other
possible problems connected
with the Art Fair, such as theft.
"We will have officers up
there to assist people as we
can," said Capt. Kenneth Klinge.
He indicated there will be a
"Community Van" at the cor-
ner of South and East Univer-
sity streets to deal with thefts,
lost children, and other prob-
lems.
See ANN, Page 17
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327 S. MAIN
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SIDEWALK TABLES
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All regular price luggage, briefcases & gifts on display:
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ANN ARBOR JACKSON
FAIR HOURS: WED., THURS., FRI. 9 TO 9; SAT. 9 TO 5:30
ART FAIR
MAGAZINE STAFF
JENNIFER MILLER BARBARA ZAHS
Co-editors;
STAFF WRITERS: Lani Jordan, Lois Josimovich, Jay Levin
George Lobsenz, Stu McConnell, Tim Schick, Jeffrey Selbst
Scott Eccker Steve Kagan
Photo Technicians
Dan Blugerman Don Simpson
Advertising Co-ordinators
3t
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