Summer isn’t just for camping and boating, it’s also the season of art fairs and festivals. After a year of COVID, they’re returning, in one way or another.
While some festivals are running business as usual this year, others had to get creative about bringing the arts to their area.
In Cadillac, the annual Phyllis Olson Art Fair is taking on a new look after being postponed from COVID-19 relatedsetbacks.
On July 17, local non-proft organization Up North Arts is hosting a y-art sale. Mollie Frier, a member of the Up North Arts advisory board, said the sale is a collection of art-related donations from the community.
“Maybe you have a lot of handmade pottery or something, and it's crowding you out and you want to make room for new acquisitions. You can donate the other things you bought that you no longer want in your house anymore, or paintings that you've purchased and that no longer hold your interest," Frier said. "I mean anything that you want that’s art related that you want to donate, we will be offering these donated items at yard sale prices, and that's where the term yart sale comes in.”
The event is a way to safely fundraise for Up North Arts, but it's also a way to make art more accesible to members of the community.
"It's a way to introduce yourself, or give you some play things to experiment with and try different art materials," Frier said. "You might buy some things that you can use at a class that you take at Up North Arts."
This is the first yart sale being hosted in Cadillac, but Frier said she hopes it will become an annual event.
"That's our dream, but we have to start small so we know what we've got going on," Frier said.
It's not intended to replace the Phyllis Olson Art Fair, but she said it could coincide with the fair.
In Charlevoix, the 22nd Summer Art Show is set for this weekend as usual. Caitlin Cole, Charlevoix Area Chamber of Commerce coordinator, said the city never intended to cancel the art show; Instead, they planned to downsize.
“You know, we never really talked of cancellation, obviously, back in January and February, when we started to plan for these shows, it was a lot of unknown. But we did think that we could have a smaller, pared down version of it. So that's what we planned on from right from the beginning," Cole said. "So now, it's just a small version of what it typically would have been like back in 2019.”
Cole said there were multiple versions of what the park layout would be for the show, and they were ready to adjust to whatever restrictions were in place at the time. With restrictions lifting for the state, she said it took a lot of the pressure off.
"It kind of takes a little bit of pressure off us as people to not have to police that as much, because we do not have a staff to do that," Cole said. "So that was one thing we were worried about in the beginning."
If people feel more comfortable wearing masks, both Cole and Frier say they are more than welcome to do so.
This story was produced as part of the Michigan News Group Internship. A collaboration between WCMU and eight community newspapers. You can read the print version of this story in Saturday’s edition of the Cadillac News.