Annual Racine Starving Artist Fair set for Sunday, August 4

Racine WI July 28, 2024 Whether you attend because you love being around beautiful art; because of the tradition a 58-year-old-event creates in your life; or because of the excellent food and ambiance, The Racine Art Guild’s Starving Artist Fair should be on your agenda between 9am and 4pm Sunday August 4, 2024. In its third year at historic DeKoven Center (Wisconsin Avenue at 21st Street/Caron Butler Drive), the fair is expanding to welcome more artists, food and beverage vendors and music.

The Fair is the largest juried art fair in the tri-county area with just over 130 booths, featuring a broad array of visual art: painting (acrylic, oil, digital, watercolor, and digital), mixed media, glass, ceramics, jewelry, printmaking, metal, yard art, fiber, photography, and wood.

---

While many of our artists have participated in this Fair for years, each year we also welcome many new artists. Most are from the region with 34% coming from Racine county, 62% from Wisconsin communities outside the county, and 4% from Illinois, giving our visitors a fresh look at today’s art. Please also consider shopping at our Racine Art Guild Boutique featuring the art of extremely talented Guild member artists.

Parking and Shuttle Service: There is plenty of parking in the neighborhoods surrounding DeKoven. But for those who value gate service, two shuttles will be available taking visitors to and from their parking spots: A neighborhood shuttle will be making a loop in a radius of several blocks of DeKoven Center. Wave it down. A second option is to park in the SE corner of Gateway Technical College’s lakefront lot (Pershing and 11th). This shuttle will be running every 15 minutes.

Please see the Starving Artist Fair Facebook page /racineSAF for event and shuttle information.

Benefits Scholarships: Proceeds from the Starving Artist Fair go to support four significant scholarships to art students residing in Racine County and attending a regional college. In addition to the booth fees, the Guild raises money at the fair through raffle ticket sales featuring excellent art executed by Racine Art Guild members. The Silent Auction offers donated art by our Fair’s participating artists and also contributes significantly to the scholarship fund. This year two works by the late Marj Lacock are being featured in the Silent Auction, thanks to the generous donation from the individual’s private collection.

Artists participating in the Fair are eligible to win one of three awards: Best of Show, People’s Choice and the Marj Lacock award of excellence, which is made possible by the family and friends of the late artist.

As visitors stroll the grounds, they can also enjoy Kids Korner free art activities, a great selection of food & beverages, and fine music.

KIDS KORNER

Those with children will want to stop by Kids Korner on the west side of the Fair for free art activities. Each year Guild member volunteers design several quickly completed art projects to generate kids’ creativity and make a great afternoon even better.

FOOD & BEVERAGE: Two food courts–one on each side of the Fair Cowboy Kettle Corn Booth R-5 along Wisconsin Ave.
Northwest Food Court:

• Dragon Pit BBQ
• Nutman – Packaged snacks Booth Y-4
• Pastry4U -sweet treats
• ZS Table

Southeast Food Court:

• Cut Stone Food – Pizza Fire Truck
• All About Tacos
• Hawgs Dogs

Dekoven Center tent:

• Wine, beer, specialty drinks
• Immoxicated non-alcoholic mixed drinks

MUSIC

Performances will be held on two sides of the DeKoven property:

East Side Music Tent

• Brandgas String Quartet– 9:15 – 11:15 am
• Flutissimo Flute Ensemble – 11:30am – 1:15 pm
• Nolan Boerner/Cellist – 1:15 – 3:15 pm
• Vibhaus Kendzia-Booth B-33– 9am-4pm

West Side Music Tent

• Rachelle Rose/Singer – 10:30 am – 11:30 am
• Daniel Smith– 12 Noon – 2pm
• Jennifer Wutt/Singer Guitarist – 2 – 3 pm

The Racine Art Guild is grateful to its sponsors: Visit Racine County, Mt. Pleasant Tourism Council, Johnson Financial, Educators Credit Union, Festival Foods, Uline, and O&H Bakery.

XXX