After 51 years of attending the Summer Art Fair in front of the Midland Center for the Arts, Midlanders will be welcoming summer from a new location. For the first time ever, the 52nd annual Summer Art Fair will be held in Downtown Midland and organizers couldn’t be more excited.
"Now you get to enjoy the art fair as well as downtown businesses and restaurants. We can’t wait to see what this blossoms into," says Kristen Wuerfel, marketing director for the Midland Center for the Arts. "It’s the art fair you know and love but in the new and improved location -- Midland's new festival-friendly downtown area."
While the Midland Center for the Arts no doubt enjoyed hosting the Summer Art Fair right outside its doors this past half-century, organizers there believe that moving the art fair to the improved streetscape on downtown’s Main Street is the right thing for Midland.
Mid-Michigan is car-centric, says Wuerfel. The relocation will allow attendees the opportunity to get out of their cars and walk around. And not just from vendor to vendor, but from vendor to restaurant to street performance to the farmers market and back.
Organizers hope that the move will not only reinvigorate the Summer Art Fair, but help play a role in the reinvigoration of Downtown Midland, as well.
"We love what’s happening in Downtown Midland and can’t wait to be a part of it," says Wuerfel. "We hope it’s a stepping stone for us in what we can do to bring people to the city."
The Summer Art Fair acts as a fundraiser for the Midland Center for the Arts and its year-round programming, with vendor fees going toward the fine arts activities. It is, as always, free to attend.
The Summer Art Fair will be held on Saturday, June 2, and Sunday, June 3, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Main Street in downtown Midland.
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