I confess I am an art fair junkie. When May rolls around I start getting excited. I’ll spend a couple of hours on line looking up the dates for all the local art fairs, writing them on my calendar, deciding which ones I need to take time off for and which ones I can take the chance of missing. It’s a summer ritual that I have been doing with my mom since the 1980s.
Through the years mom and I have ventured all over Metro Detroit checking out this art fair and that art fair. Some are big, some are small, some are good, some are not so good. We have seen art fairs come and go. We have seen good ones dwindle down to nothing and little ones become REALLY good ones.
But, summer just wouldn’t be summer without a trip to Ann Arbor or Wyandotte. Ann Arbor just because it’s Ann Arbor and you can’t miss that one. And Wyandotte, not because it’s one of the best, but because that is where my mom was born and raised. We enjoy walking down the main street looking at all the art, checking out all the little boutiques and art galleries, venturing off into the park to watch to the boats go by on the Detroit River, and then having a Polish dinner at Polonas’ or drinks and appetizers at Portofino’s on the river.
I guess now that I look at it, it’s not really so much about the art fairs themselves, but more about bonding with my mom. It’s what I consider to be “our time”. Time that we set aside to be together all day. A time to not worry about anyone or anything. A time to enjoy each other’s company and to be outside in the sun (or rain as the case may be).
So maybe I’m not really an art fair junkie. Maybe I just like hanging out with my mom.
If you are interested in finding out more about the art fairs going on around Michigan go to
www.artfaircalendar.com/art_fair/michigan-artfairs.html
These are the ones I have on my calendar:
- Northville June 25-27
- Charlevoix June 26-27
- Wyandotte July 7-10
- Plymouth July 9-11
- Royal Oak July 10-11
- Ann Arbor July 21-24
- Orchard Lake Fine Art Fair (New Location in W. Bloomfield this year) July 30 – August 1
- Rochester Mall August 7-8
- Milford August 13-15
- Brighton August 13-15
- Arts Beats & Eats (New Location this year Royal Oak) September 3-6
- Rochester Arts & Apples September 10-12
- St. Clair Shores September 18-19
- Birmingham September 25-26
If you have others you would like to share, or just want to tell me about ones you really like, I would love to hear from you!
Have a GREAT summer!
Orchard Lake Concierge
