It’s that time of year again–Art on the Square has returned to Belleville, IL!

Art on the Square is the thing Belleville does best every year. On more than one occasion, it’s been named the best Art Fair in the nation–and these accolades coming even with Art on the Square only celebrating its 10th anniversary!

There are always artists to watch and talk to, even on a miserably rainy day like today:

There are favorite booths we look forward to seeing every year, such as this one belonging to photographer John Hartung:

And new favorites like photographer John Scanlan, who had beautiful pictures of various European locations:

The booths containing space and weather photography, (by Scott Johnson and David Mayhew, respectively), also had some beautiful things (can you tell I really like the photographers best?):

We also enjoy seeing local artists, such as Mark Hurd of St. Louis. He had some really awesome prints, including one of Ted Drewes Frozen Custard:

We always look forward to seeking out the creator of the year’s fair poster, in order to get our copy signed. This time, the artist, (who works with watercolors), was Gordon France, and his booth was quite popular:

Of course, there are always booths that are simply fun to look at, like these sculptures by Marina Lee:

And these, by Kevin Trobaugh, proclaimed to be “beautiful,” by Moose (some of them move in the wind):

Art on the Square also boasts a nice children’s area, with hands-on activities, as well as performers to watch. We didn’t get to participate in a lot of the activities, some of which included decorating a mini flower-pot and planting Black-eyed Susan seeds, sand art, and paper hat making, (probably for the best–they would have disintegrated in the rain!), but the children did get to plant some bean seeds and color some pictures. They also enjoyed all of the whimsical decorations adorning the children’s corner!

Saturday morning’s crowd was much smaller than usual, because of the weather, I’m certain. Still, there was a dedicated group of art lovers, umbrellas in hand, enjoying the walk around the square, viewing all of the different types of art, as well as the various food tents and musical performers.

This is definitely one of our family’s favorite traditions–someday, we may even be able to buy something there!