Artalicious Fine Arts Fair set to take over downtown Adrian this weekend
ADRIAN — Beautiful art. Delicious food. Great entertainment.
Those are some of the main highlights coming up this weekend when the Artalicious Fine Arts Fair returns to the streets of downtown Adrian for its 15th anniversary.
The two-day juried fine arts fair can be experienced from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18.
“You don’t want to miss out on this outstanding event,” Don Taylor, chairman of the Artalicious planning committee, said in an announcement. “We’ve been working hard to make Artalicious the premier small-town fine arts fair in the region.”
Artalicious features both established professionals and new artists, all of whom will be showcasing a variety of artwork and mediums. Organizers have also added talented art students to the lineup of exhibitors to showcase those up-and-coming artists.
Artalicious is presented with support and partnerships from Visit Lenawee, the city of Adrian, Art Work and the Michigan Arts and Culture Council.
More than 50 local and regional artists are expected to be present over the course of the two days in downtown Adrian. Many of the artists will have their artwork for sale and others will provide live demonstrations of their craft to the public.
Serving as a backdrop to the fine arts fair, live musical performances will be staged throughout the downtown streets both days. Saturday’s lineup of music continues until 10 p.m.
A variety of food vendors will be on site, as well.
Taylor said he is pleased with the lineup for this weekend’s fine arts fair and is looking forward to welcoming the community back to downtown Adrian.
“I love the artists that we have lined up for this weekend,” he said Wednesday. “Those who we have had before had great experiences here. One of the things I love to do is walk around downtown during the festival and watch so many people come together. (Artalicious) really is both a fine arts fair and a community event.”
Southeast Michigan has a lot to offer in terms of art and culture and Lenawee County is no different, Taylor said, as he noted the popularity of several other community festivals in Lenawee County, including Tecumseh’s Appleumpkin Festival, the Clinton Fall Festival and Kapnick Orchards' Apple Festival.
“Our community responds very positively to these and its other festivals. They are all a little bit different,” he said. “We have a great community for fairs and festivals, and I think we (Artalicious) have some longevity, too, with nearly 15 years as an area event.”
A complete list of participating artists this weekend can be found at www.artalicious.org. A good number of artists are from Adrian and other areas of Lenawee County, while a handful of artists hail from areas throughout northwest Ohio.
Three artists in the lineup are from Florida. James and Belladroa Lassak are from North Port, Florida, and Crocifissa Kristina Grillo, from High Springs, Florida. Both will be exhibiting mixed media artwork.
South Main Street will be home to a variety of food trucks, offering many different dining options, Taylor said. Food and beverage tents will also be on South Main Street.
Downtown streets will close to motorists beginning at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16, so that setup of Artalicious can begin. North Main Street, from East Church to Toledo streets, and East Maumee, from North Broad to North Winter streets, will be closed to traffic.
The city of Adrian said it expects the streets to reopen to motorists no later than 11 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18.
Adrian Morning Rotary, in partnership with the Adrian District Library and Artalicious, is hosting a collection drive of gently used and new children’s books this weekend. The collection will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, behind the Adrian District Library, 143 E. Maumee St. Members of the Adrian Morning Rotary will be outside the library near the back entrance and the parking lot off Toledo Street.
Adrian Morning Rotary builds, maintains and stocks more than 20 Little Free Libraries throughout the community. Since 2015, at least 20,000 new and used books have been placed into the libraries by the Rotary club, according to information in a news release from Adrian Morning Rotary co-president Idalí Feliciano.
At 1 p.m. Saturday, a free walking tour of historic buildings in downtown Adrian will be conducted during Artalicious. The Lenawee Historical Museum and volunteers John Kuschell and Laura Berdyck will lead the tour, which will include a history of many structures as well as the changes and renovations that have taken place over the years.
The tour begins at the Lenawee Historical Museum, 110 E. Church St., and the first stop will be the historic fire house. From there, Kuschell and Berdyck will lead the tour down Each Church and Broad streets to East Maumee Street where they will visit the First Presbyterian Church of Adrian. Then, the tour will make a rest stop at the Adrian District Library. The tour proceeds over to Winter Street to Raymond’s Auto and to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF).
Some special exhibits of note, Taylor highlighted, include a telescope that will be along East Maumee Street furnished by PlaneWave Instruments, and the Adrian Center for the Arts will have its “Ties That Bind” exhibit on display inside the Gallery of Shops, 136 E. Maumee St. The “Ties That Bind” brings together decorated face masks that reflected the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on artists and the community.
Inside the City Chambers building, 159 E. Maumee St., art students from across Lenawee County school districts will have digital artwork on display across the televisions inside the chamber. The work of the kindergarten through 12th grade students was brought together by Adrian High School art teacher Annie Howard. The artwork can be viewed from noon to 4 p.m. both days, Taylor said. There are more than 125 submissions of student work, he said.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Artalicious Fine Arts Fair returns to downtown Adrian for 2022
