By Jim Bloch
Music and art will intertwine like two Technicolor serpents this weekend in the city of St. Clair.
The 52nd annual St. Clair Art Fair is joining forces with the sixth annual St. Clair Jazz Fest to put together a weekend that organizers are billing as a union of “Cool Jazz and Hot Art,” Aug.19-20.
“One hundred and twelve artists are coming in,” said Dave Fry, president of the St. Clair Art Association, which produces the annual juried fair. “We’re blocking off North Riverside Avenue.”
One line of artist booths will line the avenue, also known as M-29. Two lines of artists will fill the city’s Palmer Park along the St. Clair River.
“There are a lot of new artists who have never shown their work here,” said Fry. “It should be quite good.”
Expect the full spectrum of art at the fair — oil painting, watercolor, sculpture, woodworking, glass, photography, textiles and jewelry.
Eight food vendors will feed the hungry crowds in addition to the many eateries in Riverview Plaza.
Alexander Zonjic in St. Clair before the pandemic.
The art fair runs Saturday, Aug. 19, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 20 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Jazz Fest
The smooth jazz festival runs Saturday only 2 p.m.-8 p.m. The stage will be set up south of the park’s archway.
Pat O’Connor works with City Clerk Annette Sturdy and resident Bob Scharnweber on behalf of the city to put the jazz festival together. O’Connor said that last summer officials from the art association approached her and flutist Alexander Zonjic, who produces the festival, about combining their efforts.
The audiences for each event share a number of interests that could wind up making the joint venture bigger than either event separately.
“At both events, we always worried about the movement of people across North Riverside,” said O’Connor.
As a combined festival, the groups could justify closing M-29.
“We have a full slate of nationally known artists coming in,” said O’Connor.
Solo guitarist John E. Lawrence, the longtime head of the performing arts program at Washtenaw Community College and a recording artist with nine solo records, opens the fest in the 2-3 p.m. timeslot. Vocalist Thornetta Davis, known as Detroit’s Queen of the Blues, plays 3:30-4:30 p.m. Zonjic plays 5-6:15 p.m.; Zonjic’s band features trumpeter and flugelhornist Rob Zinn. Guitarist Tim Bowman closes out the evening, 6:45-8 p.m.
“These are exceptional jazz musicians,” said O’Connor.
Zonjic, a native of Windsor, has been a fixture on the Detroit jazz scene for more than 40 years. Keyboardist Bob James plucked him out of set at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge in 1981 and invited him to join his touring band. James co-produced Zonjic’s first major label release “Neon” for Reprise in 1990.
Zonjic helms a dozen jazz festivals in and around Southeastern Michigan.
“The jazz fest really adds a lot to what this community offers,” said O’Connor.
The sponsors of the event allow the festival to be free, said O’Connor: DTE, LaFontaine dealerships, Bravo Programs of America, the Community Foundation of St. Clair County, Cargill, Tru Blue Boutique, the St. Clair Inn and the St. Clair Chamber of Commerce.
Meanwhile, parking should be a premium.
St. Clair’s new 350-seat Boardwalk Theatre just opened and will be presenting “Hello, Dolly” during the fair and festival.
Don’t be surprised to see a combined art-jazz-and-theatre festival in the future.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.