ANN ARBOR, MI -- The annual Ann Arbor Art Fair opens downtown at 10 a.m. Thursday.
The fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, July 21-22, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, July 23.
Since its conception in 1960, the fair has grown into a combination of three fairs that are collaborative but separately organized events: The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original; Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair; and Ann Arbor State Street Art Fair.
This is the fair’s second year back after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 event.
Although the Art Fair is keeping its shortened, three-day format, it will see a return of its live entertainment stages.
Here is a list of everything you need to know about Art Fair this year.
WEATHER
Ann Arbor is set to see afternoon highs between 88 degrees and 92 degrees all three days of Art Fair, along with high humidity that will push the feels-like temperature to around 95 degrees.
Fairgoers will most likely stay dry this year, though, with only a slim chance of rain late Saturday.
Six water stations are scattered throughout downtown to help fairgoers beat the heat. See an information booth for a map with water stations marked.
How to get around
Downtown parking structures and lots will be available for $18 for a full day or for $9 after 5 p.m. Free parking is also available at Huron High School, 2727 Fuller Road, and Briarwood Mall, 100 Briarwood Circle, with shuttle services available from both locations.
Shuttles cost $5 for a round trip, although children 5 and younger ride for free.
May Mobility will also provide its free autonomous shuttle service, Art-Go-Round, from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
With dozens of restaurants, bars and food trucks around the Art Fair, there are plenty of options for everything from a quick bite to a full meal.
Food truck options include Annie’s, Bao Boys, Bearclaw Coffee, Cinnabon, Kona Ice and Poke Ur Way, among others.
What’s new?
The Ann Arbor Art Fair is keeping its three-day format, which it originally implemented in 2021, due to budget issues and ongoing artist requests to shorten the fair.
The fair is bringing back its live entertainment stages, which saw a hiatus due the coronavirus pandemic. Three stages will be scattered around the fair, all featuring different types of performance groups.
What you’ll see
More than 700 artists will be spread across downtown Ann Arbor, selling a variety of different pottery, paintings and more.
One of the artists is Ann Arbor’s own Monica Rickhoff Wilson, who is joining the fair for the third year. Her work focuses on a type of sculpture she calls “clusters,” a rounded starburst form inspired by the artificial grapes from her childhood home.
“I was just fascinated by stuff like these artificial fruits, and I just have this visceral memory of where I would go and pop them off and put them in my mouth, and they kind of suction your cheek a little bit,” Rickhoff Wilson said.
Find Rickhoff Wilson at the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original in booth WA815.
The fair will also feature Mark Lincoln Braun, a boogie-woogie pianist who goes by the name Mr. B, as well as the We Bear Exhibit, which features art from 31 artists isolated in prison during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Prison Creative Arts Project, which is based at the University of Michigan, is a partner in the project.
Fairgoers will also have the chance to try their own hand at art at Chalk the Walk, featuring Ann Arbor chalk artist David Zinn.
Zinn will work live 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday and Saturday near the corner of Liberty Street and Fifth Avenue.
Read more here.