Lisa Downey, right, puts on the hat she just purchased from Sybil Cano, left, in the Sensations by Sybil booth during the annual Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair. The Fourth Avenue Merchants Association is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Winter Street Fair this weekend.
Colleen DeKoker and her daughter, Violet Kuntz, 2, look through the artwork of Tanya Doskova during the Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair, held in March. More than 300 artisans will be selling their works on North Fourth Avenue, from East Eighth Street to East University Blvd.
Art made by the Urban Octopus is on display as visitors stroll by during the Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair on March 22, 2019. The fair runs through the weekend from 10:00a.m. till dusk.
Binh Nguyen grills up chicken teriyaki at Chanβs Concessions at the Fourth Avenue Winter Street Fair on Friday, Dec. 13, 2013, near downtown Tucson, Ariz. More than 400 arts and crafts vendors, paired with dozens of food booths and live entertainment packed Fourth Avenue between Ninth Street and University Boulevard for the street fair. The fair runs through Sunday, Dec. 15, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.
A couple walks among hundreds of people on the opening day of this yearβs Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair. The street fair brings an estimated 600,000 people down to North Fourth Avenue.
Lisa Downey, right, puts on the hat she just purchased from Sybil Cano, left, in the Sensations by Sybil booth during the annual Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair. The Fourth Avenue Merchants Association is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Winter Street Fair this weekend.
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star
Colleen DeKoker and her daughter, Violet Kuntz, 2, look through the artwork of Tanya Doskova during the Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair, held in March. More than 300 artisans will be selling their works on North Fourth Avenue, from East Eighth Street to East University Blvd.
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star
Art made by the Urban Octopus is on display as visitors stroll by during the Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair on March 22, 2019. The fair runs through the weekend from 10:00a.m. till dusk.
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star
Binh Nguyen grills up chicken teriyaki at Chanβs Concessions at the Fourth Avenue Winter Street Fair on Friday, Dec. 13, 2013, near downtown Tucson, Ariz. More than 400 arts and crafts vendors, paired with dozens of food booths and live entertainment packed Fourth Avenue between Ninth Street and University Boulevard for the street fair. The fair runs through Sunday, Dec. 15, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.
Mike Christy / Arizona Daily Star
A couple walks among hundreds of people on the opening day of this yearβs Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair. The street fair brings an estimated 600,000 people down to North Fourth Avenue.
North Fourth Avenue merchants unwittingly created one of the nationβs most vibrant street fairs five decades ago when they set up tables in front of their businesses to draw in customers.
The event was once pitched by organizers in its earliest days as a βfestival of harmony,β according to Star archives β its symbol was a cygnet, or young swan, representing the βpotential growth of fine craftsmanship and good fellowship in Tucson,β according to stories at the time.
Merchants wanted a way to show how the avenue had been revitalized after years of decay and disrepair.
Those early street fairs offered puppet shows and French horn performances. Businesses like the Aquarian Farmary, a shop not unlike the Food Conspiracy Co-op, and the Flea-Martique, located where Everest Souvenirs is today, provided outdoor food set-ups.
The Dairy Queen, which is still on the Avenue, had discount sundaes on the menu for hungry attendees.
The annual fair, which is now held in the winter and spring, came from humble beginnings, but has since evolved into a huge community event. It celebrates its 50th anniversary this weekend, according the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association.
More than 320 artisans will set up under canopies along the avenue to sell their creations to more than 600,000 visitors over the course of three days, according to Fred Ronstadt, the executive director of the merchants association.
Some of those artists include Paul Nzalamba, from Uganda, who uses vibrant colors to express his cultural heritage; and David Lozeau, a two-time Disney Parks artist-in-residence who layers acrylics, gouache and enamel to create paintings with DΓa De Los Muertos iconography.
Local musicians will perform on two stages and more than 50 food vendors will be selling everything from tacos to hot dogs and an array of fried foods, both sweet and savory.
The fair is produced by the non-profit merchants association, which uses proceeds to support the neighborhoods surrounding the avenue.
βWeβre kinda like the micro-chamber of commerce for Fourth Avenueβ said Ronstadt. βWe organize trash pick-ups, lights for the holidays, power washes for the sidewalks.β
The funds also support other free community events on Fourth Avenue throughout the year.
The fair generates more than $500,000, Ronstadt said. Forty percent of the proceeds are used to put on the fair.
βWeβre really excited to be hosting Tucsonβs premier community event,β said Ronstadt. βWe want to invite everybody to come down and have a good time.β
Photos from the spring street fair:
Photos: Opening day of Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair