Back on May 20th I was in WYOMING Ohio for an art fair. This city is so charming and run their art show well. The artists that were juried in were amazing. An art competition is set up in a community center and I was in awe of all the submissions. We are on a tree lined street and this was the house that was behind my booth. This is what many of the houses are like in this city, so well taken care of. The Wyoming Art Fair is a one day show. I don’t usually like doing one day shows because it is a lot of work to put up and take down in one day. I do this one because my helper Margaret lives in the area. She helps put up, take down and I have a great place to stay. That day, it started getting warm and sticky and had to have everything in order by 10:00 so we were hustling, that is why there are no tent photos. I love talking with the people that stop by, for example since I have a hedgehog in the Awakened painting, a family was telling about their hedgehog that they have for a pet. They got it from a hedgehog rescue and have had it for two years! I had another woman come in and gave me the application to the Vinoklet Winery show. I thought it was interesting and am giving it a go. I would not have known about it otherwise.

PALMER PARK art fair was on June 2nd and 3rd. It is a fairly large park north of downtown Detroit. It has a pond and lots of green areas. In fact I looked up from putting the tent up and there was a small deer grazing, didn’t expect that! My husband Tom and son Kevin were attending the Belle Isle Grand Prix so I had their help and hotel roomies. I had the choice of Palmer Park or Winona Art Fair in Indiana for the same weekend. Since I had help I decided to go with Palmer Park. The patrons were sensational, but main problem was the surrounding area was pretty tough. We love Detroit, Tom and I come here often but those are areas that we shy away from. I liked it that the Detroit Mounted Police were just out my back door, that was a comforting presence. The artists that were my neighbors were great. One of them lived in Portland Oregon and was making her way across the country doing art fairs. Her family was from Detroit and she inherited the cottage so she was staying there. But I give her credit, she talked about camping in a tent sometimes and I was totally impressed. What a bold woman!

Since the flooding rain of St. James in Louisville last fall, I decided to always bring along a pair of boots. There was quite a rainstorm one day and I had to break them out from the walk to the booth, the parking lot had turned into a pond. They worked just like they should have. Next year I am going to try for Winona again. 

The next two pictures I threw in because I liked them. They are decorations at the Wunderkammer Company in Fort Wayne. This was made out of styrofoam cups.

I don’t know if anyone made this, but the color’s good and bright.

Talbot Street was June 16th and 17th and I had been called off the waitlist for this one. I really wanted to do it and Indianapolis is always good to me. Unfortunately it was one of the hottest weekends so far. Heat index hot of 102 to 105. When I got home, my body didn’t cool down till Wednesday. This was the 63rd year for this show, so they have it pretty well down pat. Everybody has to set up half on the pavement and half on the grass. My helper Margaret was not able to get to the show until it opened Saturday so I set up on my own. I had tried to get a boy scout to help but no one sent a message back when I tried to contact. Disappointing because it was advertised that they would help for a donation to the troop. I thought that was a dandy idea but to no avail. My artist neighbors were very helpful, one was from Birmingham Alabama and the others were from North Carolina. They had a spot with a FABULOUS shade tree, I was a bit jealous!

People were out early to try to beat the heat, by noon the crowds thinned considerably and understandably. This is one of my returning customers, I was just so happy to see Stephanie. She chose one of my new paintings “Don’t be so Serious” to buy for her friend Regina’s birthday. This was her last stop, they were headed back to the air conditioning. The vendors who did the best were the frozen lemonade and artisan Popsicles. Weather is always a factor with the outside art fairs, and I could tell the customers wanted to look and buy but it was just so stinkin hot! By two o’clock each day people just looked like limp rags and they could in no way make a decision about art. I hope to be able to come back again next year, I would do it in a heart beat! I had a woman stop in and ask if I hung my work in any galleries and if I would consider it. She had started a foundation for people with autism and developmental disabilities. This is very near and dear to my heart! In this foundation is a gallery, called the Hope Gallery named after her daughter. The Hope Gallery will be run by individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities with assistance from respite workers, buddies, volunteers and job coaches. I believe it is located in Bargersville, IN, south of Indianapolis. The website is https://www.thealexandalifoundation.com/the-hope-gallery. It was a very interesting talk, they want happy, colorful and uplifting work. I will most likely do it.

ART in the SUN is located in Northville Michigan and was June 23rd and 24th. I love Northville, it is a clean and pretty town north of Detroit, close to Ann Arbor. They were good to me last year and I was so looking forward to going again. Last year it was downtown and had been for a while. Someone got a big idea to move it to a soccer field in a park near a beer tent and a stage. Oh and I tried to get help to set up from Boy Scouts again but that just didn’t work out. It so happened that these two sweeties were helping artists set up and they were a Godsend!!

It was a cooler weekend with a chance of rain for two days. Surprisingly the rain went around us, but not so in other areas. I think that kept people away then others simply did not know where the show was at. More customers came out on Sunday and by the time the show opened many booths had torn down and left. My Sunday was better but it was apparent that the promoters made a big mistake moving the show. Oh and beer tent patrons and art patrons are two different animals, they are there for socializing and not art buying we did not see too many venture into the art area of the 300 tickets sold.

This person was probably new to the art fair scene and these are her weights for her tent….12 pounds, not attached. I was worried that a big wind was going to pick her tent up and throw it into mine. I have about 50 pounds on each leg. Some artists even go higher.

The area, people are not milling around because there were none! Like I said it picked up though. The man in the lower right corner was amazing to watch….since I had some time. He was selling fudge to benefit homeless veterans. He would start fast talking people immediately and holding out a piece of paper so they had to come and get it, not to be rude for the veterans. I would see people opening their wallets all the time. If they didn’t buy fudge they were donating a few dollars. He also had his aging cat with him, so of course I petted Duke.

Sharon bought my little original “Love Your Neighbor”. She walked the whole show and then came back and purchased this sweet picture. One of my favorites!

On Saturday evening, after I got back to the hotel there was a rainbow coming from the clouds. Think is was telling me that all would be ok Sunday? On Monday the artists received an email saying that 2019 would be moved back to downtown. If we would give them a second chance we would be automatically in and have a half price booth. I am giving them another chance, they tried something new and it didn’t work. This show is good to me and I won’t give up on them.