Cover band The Mega 80s performs during last year’s Wyandotte Street Art Fair. This year’s festival, beginning Wednesday, will feature more than 250 artists and performances from bands including The Detroit Cobras and Larry Lee and Back in the Day.
By ANDREA POTEET
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE – A local tradition is turning 50, but new programs promise to keep it young.
The Wyandotte Street Art Fair, which will run from Wednesday to Saturday, began in 1961 with a handful of local artists and has grown to showcase more than 250 artists and become one of the best-attended fairs in the state. Each year, it draws more than 150,000 attendees to downtown Wyandotte, Special Events Coordinator Heather Thiede said.
This year, the fair will feature a mix of new and old. An emerging artists area will celebrate newer artists while Retro Row will highlight the fair’s beginnings, showcasing art with a 1960s and 70s flair.
Children also will have more options at this year’s fair when an enhanced children’s area debuts. The area will feature a hands-on creative magnet workshop run by the Detroit Institute of Arts and Detroit-based nonprofit group Arts and Scraps will provide a crafting center from noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday where children can create their own art from recycled materials.
As always, the entertainment stage will be packed with a variety of different musical acts, from high school bands to big-name acts. Wednesday will start off with The Stale Crackers from noon to 1 p.m., and the Roosevelt High School Jazz band from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. The RHS band will perform several times throughout the festival, and the Cabrini High School band will perform from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Thursday. Larry Lee and Back in the Day will close the festival’s first evening from 9:30 to 11 p.m.
Thursday, ’80s cover band the Square Pegz will close the show from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. The next evening, local favorites 50 Amp Fuse will take the closing slot. Saturday, The Detroit Cobras will close out the festival, lending their hard rocking flavor to Motown, soul and ’50s classics.
For more information, go to www.wyandottestreetartfair.org