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thePeorian.com
The Present
featured the following year. The
art fair eventually grew to 120
artists and Bibo managed the art
fair for 11 years.
Another well-known Peoria
name took over the fair and took
it to another level, bringing high
quality art from artists all over
the country. Former Fine Art Fair
Chair Sheryl Cohen attended fairs
all over the country to persuade
artists to apply to the Peoria
show. Not an easy task, especial-
ly when some artists would say,
“Where’s Peoria?”
Movesthat mattered
In 1998 the Peoria Art Guild
took the bold steps to move the
art fair to Peoria’s riverfront. To
say the decision to move the fair
to the riverfront was met with
resistance is an understatement.
Remember, the Gateway Building
had just been built. There were
little or no organized weekend
activities on the riverfront. Even
though Peoria had a picturesque
riverfront as a backdrop, few
in city leadership spent time
cultivating or supporting our best
natural asset. Once again, the
Guild took the challenge in hopes
to draw people to the developing
riverfront to expand the reach for
the art fair.
So what has happened in the
past 14 years? In 1998, only 129
artists applied to fill 125 booth
spaces, compared with nearly 700
artist applications of today. Most
of the artists were invited and did
not have to go through the rigor-
ous jurying process of today to be
accepted into the Peoria show.
Most notable in the early days
on the riverfront was the weather.
The Fine Art Fair had a long his-
tory of being the first weekend in
October and for three years after
moving to the riverfront, it rained
at least one of the two days of
the fair. In 2000, it snowed. That
prompted the Guild’s board to
move the art fair to the last full
weekend in September, hoping
for better weather conditions.
In the meantime the art fair
started to gain national recogni-
tion. For the better part of 10
years, the Fine Art Fair has been
rated in the top 200 art fairs in the
country, going up against larger
art fairs that had the support of
being in or near a metropolitan
city. It was a testament to relent-
less “selling” of the art fair to
artists by those involved.
Plan now
The 50th Annual Peoria Art
Guild Fine Art Fair is Sept. 29 and
30, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Peoria’s
Riverfront. Admission has been
lowered to $5 a person a day in
celebration of the 50th anniver-
sary.
Plans are already in place to
have 150 jury-selected artists
from all over the country exhibit
works of art in jewelry, painting,
photography, ceramics, wood,
glass, mixed media, metal and
fiber. All artwork is original, cre-
ated by the exhibiting artist.
In March, a panel of art profes-
sionals judged all the entries at
Bradley University; more than
800 applications were submit-
ted. Through an extensive rating
process, 129 artists are invited to
exhibit at this year’s Fair along
with 21 artists who were invited
to attend as last year’s award
winners.
The Kids Art Festival has
become its own destination event
within the Fine Art Fair, offering
great “make and take” art proj-
ects for kids of all ages.
The interactive Community
Mural is designed for adults.
It takes hundreds of people to
participate in this fun, hands-on
art activit and everyone attending
the Fair can watch as the mural
literally comes together piece-
by-piece over the Fine Art Fair
weekend.
Even if you’re not much of
an art buff, the Fine Art Fair
has you covered. The Art Guild
supports the performing arts
with free hourly jazz and gospel
performances on the music stage
located in the heart of the Fair.
All performers are local and are
among the best in central Illinois.
The Guild has you covered on
food, too. All of the food vendors
are local and have been carefully
selected to serve food and bever-
age at the Fair. A variety of top
quality wine and beer will also
be available, so come early and
stay late.
To kickoff the Fine Art Fair,
the Art Guild will host a Preview
Party on Friday, Sept. 28,
7 to 10 p.m. at the Peoria
Art Guild. The wine and hors
d’oeuvres event will showcase an
exhibit of art from many of the
Fine Art Fair artists and the art on
display will be available for pur-
chase during the event. Tickets
will be $75 and can be purchased
prior to the fair.
If you are a Peoria Art Guild
member, you can view all the
works of art an hour prior to the
official opening of the fair, free
of charge, at 9 a.m. on Saturday
morning. If you’re not a member
and you want to join the early art
enthusiasts, memberships will be
available at the fair entrance.