Birmingham and Beyond

As long-term Yoopers, it still seems incredible that a person can just get in their car and drive to Detroit. As such, it may not really have been necessary to get a hotel room in Birmingham for Saturday night, but we were determined to make this adventure FUN. Luckily, we knew of a nice place just the other side of the railroad tracks - literally - from Bloomfield Hills in the unlucky community of Pontiac. It is a beautiful Marriott that we stayed in when Cate graduated from Cranbrook. (Amazing we had any money left.)

We set out around noontime on Friday to set up our booth for the Saturday show. Previously the show had been in a park. Now, for the first year, it was right on Old Woodward in the heart of downtown. Mapquest directions in hand, we fearlessly navigated our way to the alley that we were assigned to and discovered we were about 8 cars back in a line. We would have to just wait until the art fair guards (I'll need an entire blog post to describe these folks, but think Folsom or Jackson) would let us in. About 45 minutes later, we were first in line and let in through the barriers to our first view of street art fair pandemonium. Winding our way among huge vans, trailers, and trucks, we arrived in front of our "spot" - a 10 foot by 10 foot square on the pavement. In no time, we had our "Easy-up" up, and were assembling the plywood walls of Wayne's booth. It took us about an hour and a half to get it all set up, hang the artwork, and zip it shut. It was fairly windy, but we had our trusty weights holding the tent down and we did not worry. We were too naieve to worry.

All finished, we were hot and sweaty and not looking forward to the ride home. By some miracle, we had timed everything just right and managed to avoid Friday Detroit rush-hour traffic both on the way to the site and on the way home. Shower, beer, sleep.

Next morning we arose very early in order to have plenty of time to put the finishing touches on the booth. We had taken the trailer to a remote parking lot in front of the art center, and easily made the trip up and found the appropriate parking structure. Our booth had survived without problem, and as soon as we opened up the parade of strollers and dogs began.

It seems as if art fair goers must either have small children, dogs, or both. Although there are some lovely people who attend sans these accessories, for the most part the dogs/kids look is de rigueur. Very soon Wayne started to make some sales, and I wandered off.

Now Yooper artists are a hardy breed, as they must travel far and wide in order to keep bread on the table. Within a very short walk, I ran into Ed and Julie Risak who were amusingly almost opposite Barry Bernstein. Just can't have enough Yooper potters in one place, I guess. Julie and Ed's booth is a Yooper castle, replete with corrugated fiberglass roof, two-by-fours, duct tape, and other up north necessities. But damn, if those pots don't look GREAT in the setting. The need for a mighty booth would become apparent at another venue. Julie said their booth had an added benefit: it provided her with all the exercise she needed. Indeed, lugging around pots and lumber has got to keep one fit.

At the end of the day, Wayne deemed his first day a success and we gladly drove to the lovely Marriott. It is located right next to a HUGE Chrysler plant/complex. When we stayed there four years ago, the place was humming 24/7. This year it was empty. Vacant. Nada. "Lease Available" signs all over. Holy wah, if that isn't an indication of the economic suicide of the Bush administration, I don't know what is. Chilling.

But, the lovely hotel was doing great biz and was full of a multicultural wedding party (as it had been our previous stay). This time post-shower we went to dinner at a reasonably nice Italian restaurant within walking distance. No wedding crashing for us, too tired, possibly too white, and just not even interested.

Up early again, and Wayne is happily ensconced in his booth while I get to take a run, mess around, etc. I managed to grab all our stuff and check out and still get to the fair with a couple of hours left. The weather had been lovely, sunny, not too hot, breezy. By the end of art fair day two, however, a person always seems to be exhausted. We struck the booth (a theatre term for dismantling a set - I don't know if it's commonly used but seems the best term to me) and loaded the trailer and headed home. I had a cool bottle of champagne waiting to celebrate Wayne's first art fair of the season and we toasted our good fortune. It was great to get home having actually made a profit, having made good contacts, and looking forward to the road ahead. Next up, East Lansing - home of Michigan State University and the Spartans. Little did we know what was in store for us!