Art on the Square

I have not been to Art on the Square in years. We went on Saturday afternoon, they were all prepared for the rains which only lasted for a few minutes. The artist seemed to not be affected by the weather. I was impressed with the artwork on display. We had photography, water colors, mixed media, metals, jewelry but the one booth that caught my attention was made with all magazine pages. The artist told me that he cuts words or phrases out of magazine and creates his art. He had a picture of a building that he had hand cut every window out and placed a phrase in it. It was amazing. He spent 50 hours creating it. He was asking $ 1900.
Belleville had it spread out nicely and there was enough room for people to walk around and browse. Food, wine, beer and water was available for you to purchase. They had musicians playing and even an kid art creation station.
This is held every May, and sadly you does usually rain. It is a must see for you and the family.

Art on the Square is Belleville’s crown jewel, if you will. It’s an annual free art fair held in mid-​May, and is touted as one of the top art fairs in the nation, if not the top art fair in the nation. So they say. If you dig further, that ranking is not based on the quality of the works, it’s based on how much in sales they rack up during the event. So basically, it sells a lot. I’ve heard that competition to get a booth here is super competitive. They do put on a great show; there’s about 150 booths all spread out from the Belleville Square. Prices vary, but they do tend to be a little bit on the pricier side. There is some variation year after year in artists, which is always good. I just don’t think that the art is as versatile or even as good as art at other art fairs.
There are activities for kids, and they do a local showcase of budding artists. Parking is easy.

This is one of my favorite art fairs in the St. Louis area. It rained last year, and that didn’t stop me from going. The crowds generally aren’t bad, but it is getting more and more crowded each year, which is great for the fair and the artists. There aren’t as many booths as Clayton’s Art Fair, but I like the atmosphere more in Belleville. It’s laid back and seems to have more families, which I don’t have a problem with generally. Also, downtown Belleville is really clean and pretty. It’s fun to spend an afternoon scoping out the art and browsing some of the little mom and pop shops. I always think that this is what an old downtown in a little town is supposed to look like – not like the dead, abandoned squares you’ll find in most small towns. There’s an antique store that I always visit, and there’s movie theater that’s I’ve been wanting to try ($ 6.50 for a standard adult ticket). Also, there is this metered parking lot that is insanely cheap – it’s something like a quarter for 10 hours (that may not be exactly right but it’s insane). Being used to the city, which is now a quarter for 15 minutes, I love putting my quarter in a watching the time up. My parents told me about this lot, and I had to check it out like it was some kind of urban legend. Anyway, the art fair is May 13 – 15 this year according to their website, and I can’t wait. Also, this is a free art fair.