By Jim Bloch
The Alice Moore Center for the Arts in St. Clair, home of the St. Clair Art Association, which produces the annual art fair, will be closed during this year’s fair due to damage from the hail storm on July 20. The storm damaged the roof and skylights of Riverview Plaza, where the art center is located.
“It wrecked the roof on the plaza,” said Dave Fry, president of the SCAA. “Most of the stores were wet and closed up for a week.”
Many are still closed. The roof of the plaza is covered in blue tarps, like a mall in a hurricane zone.
“The ceiling collapsed,” said Sandy Attebury, who manages gallery and sets up exhibitions for the art association. “Every business in the mall was affected.”
The plaza parking lot is dotted with Jarvis Property Restoration and Servpro trucks and vans. A stroll through the breezeways of the mall reveals the damages. Buckets and bus pans catch dripping water. Industrial fans and dehumidifiers churn in the background. Towbook, the software provider for towing companies, is closed, its floors under standing water. Ace Hardware’s aisles are flooded and many of its shelves are covered with plastic sheeting, a “Sorry, We’re Closed” sign on the door. Headroom’s doors inside the plaza are closed. Cap’n Jim’s Gallery is shuttered, but owner Pam Clary Mallane managed to save her dad’s original nautical paintings. Hers is closed. Plastic enwraps much of St. Clair Travel. The LaMarche artisan shop, A-1 Computer Repair and the Coin-op laundry are closed. Thumb Coast CBD moved to Marysville. Distinctive Eyewear is open by appointment only. The restaurants are open, some with signs warning about slippery floors. The War Water Brewery block appears to have weathered the storm thanks to a concrete floor on the largely un-used second story of the building, which contained the water.
Lee James, from South Carolina, volunteered at the shuttered art center to make signs for the artists’ booths at the art fair and fill their welcome packets.
“We’ll be closed for a few months at least,” said Fry after meeting with Servpro about the building on Aug. 14. “It will take 12 weeks for roof repairs once they get started. We still have water dripping in the gallery.”
The art center has experienced seven rounds of leaks since the original hail storm.
Attebury estimated that November would be the earliest that the gallery and classroom space at the art center could reopen.
Fry and a number of volunteers protected as much of the artwork as possible. An original painting that was to be sold as part of a fundraiser was destroyed. More than 100 artists have collected their work from the gallery and taken it home.
“When we do reopen, our space will be refreshed and hopefully we won’t be bankrupt,” said Fry.
Operational costs at the center run about $10,000 per month, including the wages of one part-time employee, Cathy Ingles, working in the office under a makeshift water-bulging plastic ceiling. Ingle’s friend from South Carolina, Lee James, was busy making the signs for the artists booths and filling their welcome packets amid plastic-covered display counters and pails catching dripping water.
Fry created a GoFundMe page — St. Clair Art Association Storm Damage Repairs — to help raise money for the art center. As of Aug. 15, $25 had been raised toward the goal of $31,600.
“Normally, we’re open for registration for the fair and breakfast for the artists, so that will have to change,” said Fry.
The SCAA usually holds a member exhibit and sale during the art fair.
“We had to cancel that,” said Attebury.
“We’re trying to make the best of an interesting situation,” said Fry. Things could be a lot worse. “It’s not the tornadoes they’ve had in the South or the fires on Maui.”
To help raise money for the center, the SCAA will sell bottles of water during the fair. The association will also sell limited edition posters featuring the St. Clair River Classic offshore boat race, held at the end of July. The poster is by artist Tony Warren and will cost $10 apiece or $20 for autographed copies.
“The good news is that the merchants in the plaza have really come together to help each other,” said Fry.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.