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Ann Arbor Art Fair Cancelled This Year Due To Current Global Health Crisis

Ann Arbor Art Fair
Joe Ross
/
flickr.com

Saying it would be “impractical and implausable to maintain social distancing” due to COVID-19, the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair has been cancelled this year, July 2020.  WEMU's Lisa Barry talks with Maureen Riley, the executive director of the Ann Arbor Art Fair-The Original, about all that went into making the very difficult decision to cancel the annual Ann Arbor Art Fair.

The art fair typically brings a thousand artists and 400,000 visitors to the streets of Ann Arbor each July and, actually, is four separate art fairs happening at the same time as one big event.  

Maureen Riley is executive director of the Ann Arbor Art Fair-The Original and says art fairs across the country are being cancelled one by one, due to the pandemic.  

Riley said, "We're into July now with cancellations, and it just kind of follows the order that they're scheduledthat people are making the decisions that they have no choice but to cancel."

This will be the first time in its over 60-year history there will be no Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair this year, an event that typically generates $16 million for the local economy.  Riley said there are ways to support participating artists online, adding they are already working on putting together the 2021 Ann Arbor Art Fair.

RESOURCES:

Ann Arbor Art Fair

Ann Arbor Street Art Fair - The Original

Ann Arbor Art Fair on Facebook

Ann Arbor Art Fair on Instagram

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— Lisa Barry is the host of All Things Considered on WEMU. You can contact Lisa at 734.487.3363, on Twitter @LisaWEMU, or email her at lbarryma@emich.edu

Lisa Barry was a reporter, and host of All Things Considered on 89.1 WEMU.
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