Weather History

Weather history was made right here in Ann Arbor today.  The Ann Arbor Art Fair is going on now.  It covers thirty city blocks and features a thousand artists.  By time-honored tradition, it also, seemingly without fail, features the worst weather of the summer.  The organizers even fiddled with the dates one year, to no avail.  The equation held true:  Art Fair = Catastrophic Weather.

      Still, each year, all those artists and half a million art lovers show up anyway.  They are a hardy bunch.  When gale-force winds blow a year’s worth of an artist’s work out of the booth and down the street, passersby dash after it and bring it back to the artist.  When rain fills every vessel at the Potters Guild, customers help pour it out.  The potters are the tiniest bit smug about ceramics looking even more excellent when wet and being too heavy to blow away.  

     When it’s hotter than hot, fair goers can be heard saying things like, “Sweat just dripped on my leg.”  This was met with a sympathetic groan from the others in the crowded booth.  Then she added, “And it wasn’t even mine,” which got a resounding groan.  But no one gave up their spot in the booth.

     There have been no weather disasters at the fair today.  The sun is shining, and the temperature is moderate.  The humidity is negligible.  There’s even a hint of a breeze—not enough to flatten anything, just enough to keep everyone comfortable.  This is a perfect summer day.

     Artists and attendees are talking about it.  One artist greeted me with, “Can you believe it?  Weather like this for the Ann Arbor Art Fair?  It’s incredible!”  He was jubilant.  Among conversations overheard among customers, the prevailing sentiment was, “I can’t believe it’s so nice,” followed by, “Ooh, look over here!”

     The parking situation during the fair is about what you’d expect for a city of about one hundred twenty thousand that swells suddenly by upwards of five hundred thousand people:  bad.  So I planned to take the city bus this morning, but my sweetheart volunteered to drop me off.  It was great.  No car to worry about, and my choice of places to start.

     Main and Washington proved to be a fine spot to begin, with two of my favorite artists only minutes away.  After happy visits to both of their booths, I just strolled, stopping here and there as art caught my eye.  A particular style of art seems to be having a moment.  It’s super high-def, surrealism of an un-Dali-esque character.  It’s also extremely glossy. 

     There seemed to be interest in this art, on the part of the jury that decides which artists to include in the fair, and on the part of fair goers.  But it feels slick to me, demanding, bordering on hostile.  For me, it would be a strain to live with.  All the same, it was intriguing to look at.  The Art Fair is for filling your eyes with art, both inside and outside your comfort zone.

     There was a flow to the pedestrian traffic at the fair today.  It seems a lot of folks elected to begin their walk through the fair on North Main.  We all moseyed along at about the same speed, through the first two of the three fairs that make up the greater Art Fair. 

     Most of us, I suspect, were so interested in the art that we didn’t realize we were part of a cohort.  I know I didn’t notice until about Hill Auditorium and the transition to the third fair.  The surge may have dissipated at that point, though, as so many people stopped for lunch or to partake of the musical offerings.  A talented soprano was deep into an aria from La Boheme on the North Ingalls stage as I walked by.

     I was near a bus stop when I felt I’d filled up my eyes with loveliness, so I strolled over there next and enjoyed a seat in the shade for the four-minute wait for a suitable bus.  City and university share that bus stop, and all the buses are free–university buses because they’re always free and city buses because I have a pass.

     My bus was full, but everyone got a seat.  The bus driver knew a route around the construction on Nixon Road and decanted me at my favorite stop, from which home is a pleasant walk.  Every trip to the Ann Arbor Art Fair is different, but the fabulous weather made this trip one the favorites—for me and half a million of my closest friends.

18 July 2025