By Meg Peters
Review Staff Writer
Downtown Lake Orion will be glowing with spring colors and art this weekend for the 14th annual Lake Orion Flower and Art Fair.
Between 65 and 70 venders will bring plants, art and home goods including some downtown businesses that will offer booths, beer and other services for the first time.
The fair runs from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. Friday, May 9, and 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Saturday, May 10. Beginning early Friday morning Flint St. will be closed from Lapeer to Anderson roads, along with Broadway St. from Shadbolt to Front St. to allow venders time to set up their booths.
Mother’s Day is Sunday, one of the reasons the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) selected this weekend, with venders sure to attract kids, mothers and even fathers.
Don Gindhart from 51 North Brewery will be managing the first ever Beer Garden with an outdoor patio at the intersection of Broadway and Shadbolt with beer tasting and live music along with the brewery’s full menu.
‘Beer Garden, Flower Fair, it just works. Hopefully it will draw some husbands to the event,? DDA director Suzanne Perrault said, organizer of the fair.
Perrault also contacted Lockharts BBQ from Royal Oak to set up a booth in front of village hall at 31 E. Flint St., where scents of Texas style BBQ will fill the spring air.
The village is currently working out a contract with the owners of Lockharts who are in the process of purchasing village hall.
‘This will give people an idea of where they are going to be, and what type of food they have,? Perrault said.
There will be a large selection of garden art, from birdhouses to bird feeders, handmade soap, jewelry and specialty foods such as caramel corn, along with this season’s annuals, perennials, hanging baskets and other outdoor plantings.
Downtown businesses including The Angel, The Witch and The Old Crow, Tesori Gifts, Vignettes: Painted Furniture and Eclectic Home D’cor and Heritage Spinning and Weaving will also provide street booths for patrons.
Art lovers can participate in the container garden contest and re-purpose anything into some type of garden container. Last year Perrault saw an entry of a mannequin holding a garden pot, a container fashioned out of an old pair of boots, and even a bathtub was used. Check in with the information booth Friday morning for details. The contest winners will be selected late Saturday and receive gift cards to Wojos Greenhouse.
The DDA raised about $4,000 last year from the flower fair, which supplements the DDA’s expenditures on other local events, including the summer series concert, which yields no profits.
‘Mostly we are funded through tax capture, but we need to continue to diversify our revenue for downtown maintenance.?