Brace yourself.
Parking will be miserable, crowds will be huge, and North Fourth Avenue between East University Boulevard and East Eighth Street will be blocked to traffic.
It’s all part of this weekend’s Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair.
But really, those are small prices to pay for this semi-annual event, now in its 46th year.
After all, 400 artisans are setting up their wares.
Lots of food — and even a food-eating contest — will be there.
Beautiful quilts will be on display.
Music will play.
And with 320,000 expected attendees, you don’t get much better people-watching than at the street fair.
If you think you’ve seen it, done it, think again.
A full one-third of the artisans have never been to the street fair before, says Kurt Tallis, the event director with the sponsoring organization, The Fourth Avenue Merchants Association.
And they come from around the country. Arizona, New Mexico and California are close by and so you might expect artists from there. But they also hail from Washington, Georgia, Florida, Illinois and even Pennsylvania.
Ceramics, blown glass, leather works, paintings, jewelry, clothing, metal works, photography —oodles of media will be on display.
And then there’s always the unexpected.
This year, 15 of Lynn Straughn’s breathtaking quilts will be on display. They won’t be for sale — Straughn passed away in January, finally succumbing to the cancer she fought for two years, and this is a way for her husband, Bradley Grower, to honor her. The long-time Tucsonan learned the art of quilting from her mother, and she did it with a passion. Before she passed, she asked Grower to make sure all of her scraps went to other quilters — if interested, he’ll be there and will give you information on how to get them. The display will be in a storefront at 526 N. 4th Ave.
Music will fill the street fair stages. And sometimes along the street. Clarinetist Kaye Patchett will be blowing her reed on the sidewalks along Fourth. She likes playing music, but she has an ulterior motive — the animal lover is hoping folks will drop some change in her bucket, and every cent she raises will go to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona.
There will be two stages — one for entertainment the merchant association has hired, and another, called the US Fries Community Stage, will be for local nonprofit performing groups.
And for an eating contest, says Grower.
US Fries is a Fourth Avenue restaurant owned by Canadian-born Tom Jones. And he loves his poutine, a dish with roots in his homeland.
So he’s sponsoring a poutine-eating contest on the Community Stage.
For the uninitiated, poutine is a dish of crisp french fries topped with gravy and generously sprinkled with cheese curd.
There will be two qualifying rounds at 12:30 and 4:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The big eat-off finale will be at 4:30 Sunday.
The winner pockets a $500 US Fries gift certificate. Second gets $300 and third, $200. Winning means “You’d have fries for the rest of your life,” said Grower.
