SCOOP: Last patio weekend will feature Downtown Arts Fair
Pelissier St. is home to many restaurants with outdoor patios (Photo by Laryssa Brooks)
Patio Season has brought good food, live music, and warm cheer to downtown Windsor—but crafters and artists have been left in the cold.
While musicians and other buskers have been able to showcase their work, “many of our local artists have not had a venue or an opportunity to showcase their work and their talent,” said Debi Croucher, executive director of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association (BIA).
This weekend will change that. “This is our last street closure for the year, and we thought it would be really neat to do some daytime programming and showcase the wealth of talent that we have in the region,” explained Croucher.
Area residents can celebrate local artists from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday with the Downtown Arts Fair, and kick back on their favourite restaurant’s patios from Friday to Sunday.
“Both days will be a different set of artists. We’ve done crafters and artisans and they’re all local. It’s going to be really fantastic,” Croucher said.
Several roads in downtown Windsor will be closed to vehicle traffic from Fri., Sept. 25 to Sun., Sept. 27:
- Maiden Ln.
- Ouellette Ave. from Wyandotte St. to Riverside Dr.
- University Ave. from Pelissier St. to Freedom Way and
- Pelissier St. from University Ave. to Chatham St.
Hawksview Honey is a Harrow-based apiary that sells a variety of honey and beekeeping products (Photo by Hawksview Honey)
Croucher said the fair will feature painters, sewists, bakers and even apiaries.
“When we came up with the concept, we thought, ‘Well, we could do 20 vendors, maybe; that would be really nice.’ But we had such an overwhelming response that we added a second day. We have 36 artists on Saturday and 33 on Sunday.”
She added, “I think the talent this weekend is going to blow folks away. It’s going to be a really great event.”
Hawksview Honey is just one of the vendors that will have a booth downtown this weekend. Its owners, Keith and Donna Rivard and Dale and Kim Wright, are looking forward to the event.
“A lot of fairs were cancelled this summer, and it was a good way to attend one this year,” said Donna Rivard.
The pandemic has actually boosted their sales. “People need something to do, so we’ve had a lot of interest from people who want to keep bees,” she added. The Hawksview booth will have chocolate honey, lemon and turmeric honey, beeswax food wraps, and many other products for sale.
Another business scheduled for this weekend is Art by Heather Georgiou. Heather, an acrylic painter, said she’s excited to showcase her work on climate change and other environmental issues.
“I was originally at the Walkerville Artists’ Co-op, and I left when the pandemic started. Since I had a tent and all the equipment necessary to put a show on, (I thought) I would participate in the downtown fair,” she said.
Heather Georgiou creates art with acrylics and sharpies (Photo by Heather Georgiou)
Also happening this weekend will be a walking tour hosted by the Art Gallery of Windsor (AGW). Called Walking the City, it will take place on Sat., Sept. 26 to encourage residents to create art inspired by urban spaces.
Sophie Hinch, AGW education and public programs coordinator, noted, “Self-isolation and being in quarantine has informed brand new work for artists … It’s a great time for experimentation, trying something new and seeing what that creates.”
Artists and crafters are hopeful for more pop-up events in the future. “If the weather remains warm throughout the fall, it would be nice to have tent pop-up shows in other locations in the city,” said Georgiou.
Either way, she added, “Good luck to all the people participating this weekend. I hope for all their success.”
