The 47th annual Edina Art Fair will take over the streets of downtown Edina this weekend.
Event organizers expect around 150,000 people to visit over the course of the weekend, making it the second-largest art fair in Minnesota. More than 320 artists will be featured, along with strolling entertainers, live music, a silent auction and two food courts.
The fair will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
This year, event organizers are expanding the Kids Art Zone, which will be located on W. 50th Street near the fountain. From 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, kids can help paint a community mural using drip-painting techniques made famous by Jackson Pollock. There will also be a kids' yoga class, an inflatable bouncy area, a Velcro wall, a puppet show and a host of other activities. Check edinaartfair.com for a complete list of times and activities.
A free shuttle running from the northeast corner of the Southdale Mall at W. 66th Street and York Avenue to the fair and back will be provided by Metro Transit. The shuttle, which had more than 10,000 riders last year, will operate from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. all weekend long. Also this year, for the first time Metro Transit will offer free rides to the fair (that is, rides terminating at 50th and France) on Saturday and Sunday.
The Edina Art Fair has been hosted by the 50th and France Professional and Business Association every year since its inception in the 1960s. It started as a book fair, then added crafts into the mix until it became a crafts fair. Over the last few decades, it has evolved further into a fine-arts fair, according to event organizer Rachel Thelemann.
A panel of judges visits every artist's booth to score the work. At the end of the weekend, one Best of Show blue ribbon is awarded, along with a handful of Award of Merit and Award of Excellence ribbons.
"We try to have a nice mix of professional artists and art professionals — like people from the Walker Art Center or the Minnetonka Art Center — on our panel," said Thelemann.
