The Uptown Art Fair Is Upon Us - I've Got an Alternative

It's back, our city's most despised art event of the year: the Uptown Art Fair.  The festivity that Minneapolites love to hate on and all but ignore on the local internet.  Why do we hate it so much? 

For one, it totally  f**ks up traffic for like 3 miles in every direction from Lake and Hennepin.  Friday happy hour at The Independent is impossible to get to unless you feel like weaving 9 blocks through herds of Uptown weekend tourists on foot.  This is after you've managed not to get tapped by one of their vehicles as they're trying to park along the apparently really confusing meters of Lake and Lagoon Streets.

Another complaint a lot of people have about the Uptown Art Fair is that the goods are overpriced.  To be fair, I've seen some really great paintings there that were pricetagged with an appropriate amount but, other than that, I'd have to agree.  You've never seen such ugly jewelry and handbags at such inflated prices.  But I suppose this is what we get for having the 8th best juried art fair in the country, according to Art Fair Sourcebook, which appears to be the go-to guide for national art retail vendors.  (Which reminds me of another big complaint people have about the Uptown Art Fair: there's not enough local artwork.)

Anyway, you won't catch me anywhere near this traffic trap over the next 3 days, but I do plan on stopping by the Caffetto Craft Show on Sunday.  I'm told there will be plenty of locally made clothing and jewelry to shop from, and probably at more reasonable prices than the Uptown Art Fair.

Caffetto Craft Show
Lyndale & 22nd
Sunday, August 3rd
10am-6pm

Comments

[Bexley]

Plus- it's in Uptown. Ew.

[MOM]

It has been years since I "did" the Uptown Art Fair - I still have some pottery and jewelry purchased 30 years ago. Sounds like it has gotten so big that people like me who have to drive a distance won't be able to see everything in one day -- kind of like the Renaissance Festival. Maybe they should just move it all to the fairgrounds!

[433]

I haven't been to the Uptown Craft Bazaar since I was arrested there in 1993. Whee!

[mimilarue]

I have HATED the Uptown art fair for 2 decades. I work Uptown and all the art fair does is keep my customers away. Not to mention the traffic, the garbage, the drunks peeing on the lawn and the completely fugly crap they try to pass off as "art". Move the whole thing to Lake Calhoun or forget it.