If you did the art fairs by the Metro Transit Art Hop buses, you’d know what I’m talking about. This photo is a bit out of focus because I had only so much space to manoeuvre the camera inside the bus.

Free ride? Yes. Air-conditioned? Yes. Comfort? No. I stood all the way from the Uptown art fair to Powderhorn at the back door of the trailer bus with a whole bunch of people. And then I was standing from Powderhorn all the way back to Lake Street as well, but it wasn’t as bad. Not complaining here…just amazed at the rush because I don’t normally see many people riding buses. This was a major talking point too at all three fairs – Loring park, Uptown, and Powderhorn.

Information on the Art Hop service can be found here.

Anyway, the fairs were fun although all three had a like flavor. Paintings, glass sculptures, greeting cards, candles, and curios seemed to be the focus. The food wasn’t anything different from the regular corn dogs, pork chops, and donut stuff. I had an excellent tamale (a first for me) at the Lake Street Farmers’ Market before hopping on to do the art circuit. The music was good all round though.

Spoke with a few artists, and surprisingly everyone had reservations about their “quotes” being published on the Web. One artist even asked me not to get too close to her copyrighted works with my camera. And then there was this brilliant potter at work at the Uptown fair who said she was too “old-fashioned” to make an appearance on the Web.

All in all, it was a good, fun experience with good weather to boot. It looks like it’s going to be hot tomorrow, but if you don’t mind being our in the sun a bit, surrounded by the arts, I’d recommend the Hop.