The Salem Art Fair, long held in July, will move to September in 2024 in an effort to shield artists and attendees from hot summer temperatures.
The decision came after clear consensus in a survey of artists, vendors, members and other stakeholders, said Matthew Boulay, executive director of Salem Art Association, which puts on the fair. About 70% of the nearly 500 responses strongly supported the move.
“Most decisions are really hard and most of the feedback you get is really mixed — like half the people like something and the other half don’t like it. But this was the opposite,” he said.
The 75th Art Fair is slated for Sept. 13-15, 2024.
The art fair is held in Bush’s Pasture Park, and was historically under the iconic oak trees that provided shade and cooler temperatures. But in 2022, festival organizers moved the fair into the pasture in an effort to preserve the native trees, which were being damaged by heavy vehicle and foot traffic over their roots.
Organizers tried to mitigate the lack of shade with cooling tents, misters and spending thousands of dollars on free water, “but still, it’s hot, and we’ve heard that a lot this year,” Boulay said. Fewer people attended in the afternoon, during the peak heat.
Boulay hopes the shift to September will increase the chances of good weather and thus people’s attendance and enjoyment of the event.
“What really got us thinking about a move was that this year and last, the high temperature during Art Fair was like 86, 87,” Boulay said, temperatures not especially hot for July. “You can definitely imagine it being in the 90s or 100.”
The art fair is the largest event Salem Art Association puts on and accounts for over half the organization’s budget. It’s not a huge fundraiser, Boulay said, but is intended to at least break even and ideally raise some funds to support other association programs, like gallery exhibits and programs bringing artists into local schools.
Boulay said about 20,000 people attended this year and the art fair turned a small profit, but the economics of holding it in the pasture in July are becoming challenging, in part because of the amount spent providing shade and cooling.
Moving the event is a gamble, he said, between the near-certainty of uncomfortably hot weather in July versus the chance of rain or wildfire smoke in September.
The shift will also allow for new programming as it gets darker earlier in September. That means evening concerts can have light. They’re planning to add an evening light show as well.
“We can create some evening ambiance,” Boulay said.
The 2024 event will also include a wine festival, recognizing that September is an important time of year for local vineyards as harvest wraps up, new wines are released and winemakers begin crushing grapes.
“Everyone likes pairing art with wine,” Boulay said.Applications for artists to participate in the 2024 fair are now open on the art association website.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
