The Fair is only a couple of sleeps away! With another fun-filled family event nearly upon us, the organizers wanted to share a few facts about this annual neighbourhood event. And see below for the full schedule of events and activity for Saturday and Sunday.
Danforth East Arts Fair: Five fun fair facts about DEAF13
1. Milestone: The Fair is turning FIVE YEARS OLD this year! It’s hard to believe it, but the Danforth East Arts Fair is half a decade old already. The Danforth East Art Fair sprang from the drive of neighbours and dedicated volunteers of the larger Danforth East Community Association (DECA), which supports many other great initiatives in the area that help to make the community more vibrant, walkable and fun.
2. Better and better: Since its first year, the Fair has grown to include more artists from all disciplines along with live entertainment, food vendors and arts demonstrations. Our home is East Lynn Park, and our vendors’ tents fit perfectly in it. While we’ll likely never get significantly bigger than our current size, we do strive to make the event *better* every year. That means we offer a variety of exhibitors selling a range of unique, high quality goods and services that includes photography, framing, paintings, clothing, ceramics, glassware, bath and beauty items, crafts and more.
3. Fan favourites and exciting new vendors. Some favourites are back this year, including Horst Herget, who makes portraits while you wait using tintype, a form of photography popular in the late 1800s that yields a noteworthy photo with an “olde-timey” feel. And Henna Planet and Henna by Holly will once again be painting lovely temporary henna designs on visitors! As well, we have new artists such as photographer Teresa Miller, mosaic maker Roberto Centazzo of Stone Folio and Fernand Ciraco of local business Ciraco framing, who will be selling unique storage and shelving cleverly repurposed from frame samples. (Ciraco is also a volunteer extraordinaire, more on that later.)
4. Local and beyond: This year approximately two-thirds of our vendors identify themselves as being located near East Lynn Park. We’re so proud to be encouraging creativity in the community! Our jury hand-picks every exhibitor, and while we do encourage local artists to apply, our final cut this year includes artisans from all over Ontario and even Quebec.
5. Volunteers: The Danforth East Arts Fair is completely run by volunteers. The planning meetings start in winter and the jury meets regularly to choose which artists will be included. Leading up to the event, there are volunteers arranging for everything from the live entertainment to the on-site ATM. A big thanks to head organizer Melanie Ramsay, along with volunteers Melissa Peretti, Julie Glick, Mary Vallis, Shauna Rempel, Fernand Ciraco, Danna Lynn McCullough and many more working behind the scenes to make the event a success.
For more info on the Fair, visit deca-arts.ca/. Or just come on by! DEAF13 goes rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in East Lynn Park.