In what has become an early summer tradition, the two sides of Old Town will square off this weekend in the pursuit of luring visitors to two separate art fairs. The well-heeled residential area north of North Avenue and the neon-bathed commercial stretch of Wells Street just to the south will soon be populated by hundreds of artists plying their wares–and thousands of art lovers, concert-goers and just plain out-and-abouters in attendance.
You might assume that two art fairs taking place on the same weekend in the same neighborhood would be pretty much the same. But they’re not. The Old Town Art Fair takes place on narrow, tree-lined streets alongside genteel homes, and is run by volunteers. The Wells Street Art Festival has several corporate sponsors, a big outdoor soundstage and takes place on wide, buzzing Wells Street, chock full of restaurants, clubs and bars.
The disparities don’t stop many people from confusing the two. “I’m always surprised at how many people don’t know the difference. They think they’re at one and they’re really at the other,” says Joan Janowski, chair of the Old Town Art Fair this year.
Here’s On the Town’s guide to telling the two apart.
Behind the scenes
OLD TOWN: Put on for 57 years by the Old Town Triangle Association of neighborhood residents. Organizers say the event brought in roughly $200,000 last year, benefiting organizations such as the Menomonee Club for Boys & Girls and YMCA of Metro Chicago. This year it will host 260 artists spread out over four blocks, and in recent years has drawn between 40,000 to 60,000 visitors.
WELLS STREET: Put on by Chicago Special Events Management for the Old Town Merchants & Residents Association and raised a reported $220,000 last year. Beneficiaries included Franklin Fine Arts Center and Walter Payton College Preparatory School. The 32-year-old event has attracted 60,000 visitors in recent years, this weekend hosting about 250 artists over five blocks.
Personality
“Wells Street is the little brother of the Old Town Art Fair,” says Peter O’Brien, a former trustee and past president of OTMRA and co-owner of O’Briens Restaurant, a Wells Street mainstay. “The Old Town fair is like the older sister. They’re like the beautiful ballerina. The Wells Street art fair is the all-American, apple pie, baseball version of art, with food and entertainment mixed in.”
To some Old Town fair organizers, Wells Street resembles that little brother who always wants to tag along. Joan Goldstein, co-chair of Old Town’s exhibitors committee, responds to O’Brien’s comparison: “That implies some relationship between the two fairs and they’re totally independent. There is definitely some competition, gentle as it is.”
The Old Town atmosphere tends to be low-key, upscale and inhabited by visitors who know a thing or two about art. A 1998 survey showed that 50 percent of visitors were between ages 30 and 50.
In contrast, Wells Street can be livelier, edgier and a bit more colorful. Not a whole lot of art collecting goes on after dark, when the music gets loud and the focus can shift to, um, conquests of a more personal nature. Hank Zemola of Chicago Special Events Management says that during the day, most Wells Street fairgoers are between 35 to 54 years old, but the average age gets younger as the night wears on.
For kids
OLD TOWN: Children’s corner featuring Dave Herzog’s Marionettes, the Menomonee Dancers, face painting, and arts-and-craft activities.
WELLS STREET: Jesse White Tumblers, family tent offering arts-and-craft activities.
The art
Both fairs offer works in a variety of media–painting, sculpture, photography, print, glasswork, jewelry and ceramics, among others.
OLD TOWN: An emphasis on fine art. Juried show and regarded as highly selective.
WELLS STREET: Includes crafts and textiles and a greater range of work in terms of price. Also juried art work has improved considerably in recent years as its judges have gotten more selective.
Sunshine Magazine, generally regarded as the bible of art fairs, ranked the 2004 Wells Street fair tenth in the country based on artists’ reports of sales.
The Harris List, which bills itself as a ranking of art fairs “that truly respect and support fine artisans,” placed Old Town first in Chicago and sixth in the nation. Larry Harris, a California art consultant, says he doesn’t rate Wells Street because he only includes shows of medium- to high-end art, by which he means works priced from $50 up through the thousands. Artworks at Old Town can reach into the tens of thousands, and Wells Street offers some items for under $50.
The music
OLD TOWN: Bigger concerts this year than in years past. The lineup features two local acts: Sons of the Never Wrong (4:30 p.m. Sat.), Devil in a Woodpile (4:30 p.m. Sun.)
WELLS STREET: Always a music-heavy event and rocks until late. The Mauds with Jimi Rogers (6:15 p.m. Sat.), Trippin’ Billies (8:30 p.m. Sat.), American English (7:30 p.m. Sun.)
The food
OLD TOWN: Food court staffed by local restaurants including Caroll’s Corn Crib, Adobo Grill, Ben & Jerry’s, The Spa Cafe and Louis Glunz Beer Inc.
WELLS STREET: More than 20 food vendors mixed in with the artists’ tents. Plus the restaurants on the strip include Topo Gigio, Old Town Pub, Kamehachi, Old Jerusalem.
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Old Town Art Fair
When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sat. and Sun.
Where: entrance at Lincoln and Wisconsin Avenues
Price: $5 donation
Wells Street Art Festival
When: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sat. and Sun.
Where: entrance at North Avenue and Wells Street
Price: $5-$7 donation
