The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Shadow Art Fair
Popular event brings large crowd
By Dan DuChene, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: July 19, 2007
In its third installation, the Shadow Art Fair was bigger, longer and a little different last weekend.
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An estimated 1,500 people came out to the Corner Brewery for the festival, which is now in its second year. The estimate is 500 more people than the summer fair last year. The show in December was a two-day event, with an estimated 1,000 people on each day.
Aside from the large turnout, there were more than 50 vendors, nearly 10 more than any previous fair. The fair also ran 12 straight hours, four hours longer than last summer. Mark Maynard, who helped to coordinate the event, said the traffic was steady and thick the entire day.
"I'm beat right now—I'm dead," he said just after the sun had gone down on Saturday. "It's been busy the whole time, there weren't any slow parts."
A member of the Michigan Design Militia, the five-member organization of local artists that organizes the event, Maynard said he was pleased with how everything turned out.
"It's worth it," Maynard said two days after the event. "Everyone was happy."
Billy Jackson was hanging out with some friends in the beer garden Saturday night. The bands were in between sets and the sun was just starting to set. A Toronto resident for five years, Jackson said he is originally from Ypsilanti and likes the progress the city has made, including the fair.
"This thing is great," he said. "Where Ypsilanti has come in the (last) five years is big; huge strides."
Jackson said he is impressed with the Corner Brewery itself, the fair and the vendors it showcased. He said Found Magazine and Ghostly International where his top two vendors.
Melissa Dettloff is another member of the Michigan Design Militia. She said while about half of the vendors were returning artists, the group had attracted talent from outside the area, including three from out of the state.
"I'm sure it changed (the fair)," Dettloff said of attracting non-local artists. "I guess people would have opinions on it either way."
Bill Marr, an Ypsilanti resident who attended the event, said he still thinks the Shadow Art Fair is maintaining its independent-edge.
"It's home-grown," Marr said. "(The art) is not something they made so people would buy it."
Dettloff said the group hadn't been aggressively pursuing artist from outside the area. She said the vendors probably heard about the fair through word of mouth or the internet.
"We prefer to have the artists be local," Maynard said. "They were doing good interesting stuff that no one locally was doing."
Maynard said half of the artists that had applied for the event had to be turned away because of space. He said if local artists had done work similar to that of the artists from outside the area than the group would have probably invited the local artist instead.
The Michigan Design Militia will be meeting this week to evaluate the event. Dettloff said one thing the group will discuss is its increasing size, both with attendance and the number of vendors the show attracts.
"It is something that we always talk about," she said. "It's an issue that comes up every time we plan one of these."
Monica Hirth, the Corner Brewery's pub manager, said the Shadow Art Fair is one of the largest events the bar hosts.
"I'm looking forward to next year," she said. "I would like to see, weather permitting, getting some vendors outside."
Both Maynard and Dettloff agree that they don't want to see the event get much larger than it is now.
Dettloff said increasing the size of the event could change the whole dynamic of the fair.
"I'd like to keep it the same size it is now," Maynard said. "There's something nice about keeping it the same size."
After the group evaluates last weekend's Shadow Art Fair, both Dettloff and Maynard said they would start planning the next show, which should take place in December.
"We haven't talked to much about it yet," Dettloff said of the winter event. "It'll Probably be the first weekend in December."
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