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Page 6 / July 24, 1984
Merchants prepare for fair sales
By TIM HOUSTON
IT LOOKS LIKE things will be
business as usual for those involved
in this year's art fair, And if you are a
local merchant, that means business
will be unusually good.
According to Dick Brunvand, coor-
dinator of the Ann Arbor Street Art
Fair, the fair has always been a major
source of revenue for Ann Arbor
businesses. Despite the fact that most
local merchants deal in merchandise
rather than art, Brunvand believes
very few businesses do not benefit
directly from the fair.
"These four days are as important to
sales as Christmas," Brunvand said.
"When you have over 400,000 people in
town walking around, looking to pur-
chase something, it economically
becomes a very important event for the
city and for the merchants."
Brunvand said the fair was created in
1960 as a promotional event for local
businesses. Known then as "bargain
days," the fair "was started to help out
sales or merchadise in summertime
that traditionally is very slow," he said.
"Today, the art fair is an event on its
own," Brunvand said. "The sales
aspect is not the main thing
promoted ... we now try to downplay
the business part of this."
Indeed, since its inception 25 years
ago, the fair has become the most suc-
cessful street-fair of its kind in the coun-
try, according to Brunvand.
Brunvand added that the goal of
organizers is to make the art and the
goods as compatible as possible. "Mer-
chants try to have a sense of respect for
the art: If they are going to display
merchandise," he said, it is understood
that "they should have good bargains.
out there."
In fact, merchants are not free to
display whatever they like. By city or-
dinance, businesses are allowed to sell
only on the sidewalk immediately in
front of their stores, and are required to
obtain a permit to do so. Also, mer-
chandise sold at these displays is
limited to the type of goods the store
normally carries.
Susan Michael of the Ann Arbor
Chamber of Commerce believes that
artists profit from the presence of the
merchants. "A lot of people come from
out of town specifically for the sidewalk
sales," she said. "Many come looking
only for bargains,' but end up looking
DOUG McMAHON/Daily
In addition to all the art at the fair, there are oodles and oodles of bargains to be found. Folks come from miles around
just to buy those 29-cent tubes of toothpaste.
at the art as well.
Michael said it it not uncommon for
stores to include overstocked or slow-
moving goods in their sidewalk displays
at greatly reduced prices. Most mer-
chants rely on discounts or sales during
the four days to draw people into their
stores.
Among those merchants who par-
ticipate in the fair is the Bivouac
clothing store on State Street. Lisa
Weiss, a manager and buyer for the
store, said she sees no reason why the
goods she sells cannot be considered
"art."
"You'll often hear people refer to
clothing as art. The process of mat-
ching clothes with jewelry, putting it all
together is also an art. The girls that
work here really do make it an art," she
said.
This year, Weiss said the store plans
to feature privately designed T-shirts
and jewelry along with a preview of
their fall fashions. She expects business
to be up from last year due to im-
provement in the economy. She noted
that "the fair also helps business in the
future" in that "it attracts people from
outside Ann Arbor, many of who will
come back."
Jim Matthews, a weekend coor-
dinator for Logos bookstore on South
University, said his store has little
trouble keeping with the mood of the
event because "what we sell seems to
fit in well with the things in the fair. Our
displays have no shock value," he ad-
ded.
Matthews said Logos enjoys a good
relationship with the artists and helps
out by letting artists keep works over-
night in their store. He believes that the
people who come to the fair "expect the
big sales and look forward to them,"
and said he has never heard complaints
about the combination of merchandise
and art.
Logos' display this year will include
posters, mugs and a selection of other
items normally carried by the store,
Matthews said.
Although this will be the first art fair
for Keith Hay, owner of The Cats Meow,
a "creative clothing" store on South
State Street, he expects the event to in-
crease business and help "salvage the
summer." Hay said he intends to
reduce the prices of items in his store
during the fair as "an incentive for
people to come up."
"People essentially come to Ann Ar-
bor for the art fair, so merchants have
to offer decent sales to entice them to
their booths," Hays said. "If you can't
sell a lot during the art fair, you
shouldn't be in the business."
Hays said because his building is
located near the end of State Street, his
store is in "the unenviable position of
not being in the art fair flow." He and
other merchants nearby plan to correct
this by erecting a banner at the corner
of Washington and State Streets that
will indicate the boundaries of the fair.
Hays said he will fill his space with a
sampling of clothing and jewelry from
his store.
The relationship between goods and
art at the fair was summed up best by
Sam Holtz, manager of the Stein and
Goetz sporting goods store on Main
Street. Holtz described the two as "very
compatible," saying that people "come
down for one and can be serviced by the
other."
*I
MUSKET
announces its fall musical
"SOUTH PACIFIC"
staff positions are now open:
Bargain sales were
catalyst for art fair
.
" DIRECTOR
" STAGE MANAGER
" MUSIC DIRECTOR
" COSTUME DESIGNER
" CHOREOGRAPHER
" SET DESIGNER
" LIGHTING DESIGNER
" TECH DIRECTOR
(Continued from Page 3)
ment.
In 1973, the free fair became officially
known as the Summer Arts Festival. By
this time its reputation had changed
from being a "hippie fair" to a more
sophisticated membership based art
presentation. The Summer Arts
Festival benefited from many out-of-
town artists who did not have to be
juried to participate.
Main Street merchants became a lit-
tle jealous and wanted to draw bigger
crowds to their Bargain Days. In 1974,
the Guild's Summer Arts Festival was
invited to set up shop at the new
so For the past ten years, artists
who Iove participated in the festival on
Main Street have done better finan-
cially than those located in the campus
area. The other part of the Guild's fair
on East University was moved to State
Street in 1980.
An artists selection procedure was
developed by the Guild and is referred
to as the standards procedure. This
procedure involves examining each ar-
tist in each medium periodically and
assigning the artist to one of three
categories: master, journeyman, or ar-
tisan. Master is the highest of these
classifications. Artists evaluated and
classified as artisans twice con-
secutively may not exhibit in the Sum-
mer Arts Festival. This system works
to improve the quality of the member's
work and also allows for a top quality
fair.
Call 763-1107 for an application
or more information.
Watch for the
MASS MEETING SEPT. 18
0I
s ,