Thieves hit several booths at Uptown Art Fair

Updated: August 6, 2012 - 5:57 AM

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Visitors to last year's Uptown Art Fair.

Photo: Mckenna Ewen, Star Tribune

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Delightful weather featuring sunshine and lower dew points brought huge crowds to this weekend's Uptown Art Fair in Minneapolis. It also brought thieves who made off with artists' wares, event officials acknowledged Sunday.

It was not immediately clear how many booths were broken into during overnight hours, or what was stolen, but "we had several incidents over the weekend," said Maude Lovelle, executive director of the Uptown Association, the organization that puts on the award-winning event.

Lovelle said Minneapolis police have taken reports and are investigating the thefts, which occurred despite 24-hour security and a citizen's patrol group that walked the grounds from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. nightly.

"It's really unfortunate," Lovelle said. "We are an outdoor urban experience, and we work closely with artists to better secure their space with us."

That was about the only negative of the fete, which is centered at Lake Street and Hennepin Avenue. The art fair featured 350 artists from throughout the world.

"The weather was unbelievable," Lovelle said. "We had great crowds. Artists were selling. It was a very successful weekend."

TIM HARLOW