After a year without public celebrations, the village of Burr Ridge is starting summer 2021 big

by the Chicago Tribune  |  June 6th, 2021

A new event, the Burr Ridge Art Fair, is set to launch this year June 19-20 at the Village Center from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event will feature some 100 artists from around the area — and the world — in a juried art exhibit that organizers say will offer something for everyone.

“If you want something for $20 you can find it,” said Amy Amdur. “If you wanted a major painting for your home, you could find something for $2,000.”

Amdur is the owner of Amdur Productions, a local company that specializes in art walks and art shows.

“We’re so pleased to partner with Amdur Productions to bring the Art Fair to Burr Ridge in one of our first major events since 2020,” Ramzi Hassan, President of Edwards Realty Company, said in a news release. “Everything we do at our center aims to blend community and culture, and this event is a prime example of those values. And, our spacious Village Green is the opportune place to host an event like this in a safe manner.”

Amdur said that after the pandemic hit hard last year, it’s good to be back, organizing and designing events to bring communities together.

“We did three shows already this year, one in Wisconsin in May, and then we did one in downtown Northbrook, Illinois and then we did one in Barrington,” she said. “We see people happy to be back doing things they feel are normal to them and getting outdoors.”

Crowds, she said, have been excited to get outside and experience community for the first time in a year. Amdur said her company took a hit last year — only organizing a handful of art events after the COVID-19 pandemic hit but this year, as restrictions ease, she’s seen a renewal of community and through these events.

“It’s been amazing,” Amdur said. “It’s been great. We use (the website) Eventbrite for free reservations, and what that does is, it allows us to even out the crowds and we’ve seen nice, steady attendance and really happy people. I’m telling you it’s different. People are just happy and smiling. It’s just a really upbeat feel.”

The village, it seems, was aiming for just this sort of success. She said village officials contacted her early this year about a potential new event — an art fair. In any other, more normal year, she’d have been booked, Amdur said.

“So, I got a call from the people at Burr Ridge and they had heard about the shows we do because we’re one of the few companies in the country that specialize in art festivals. So, they gave us a call in February or March. Usually, when someone contacts us, we’re working on the following year, but they said they wanted one this year, this summer. And as it turned out we had one weekend open.”

Burr Ridge took it, and Amdur said she expects the Burr Ridge event to be a celebration of community.

Last week Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the state would roll back COVID-19 restrictions and essentially return the state back to pre-pandemic status — meaning no crowd restrictions or other precautions.

Even so, Amdur said the event will still include some basic pandemic safety precautions, most notably special safety.

“The artists’ booths will be spaced apart,” Amdur said. “So instead of being wall to wall, it’ll be artist, space, artist, space.”

In addition, goers can still register on the website Eventbrite.com in order to secure a time to arrive at the event. Amdur said this isn’t a requirement, but it does help her group organize traffic and plan how many attendees will be arriving. The event is free whether attendees register online or if they just show up.

Finally, Amdur’s still planning to keep people from bumping into each other with directional travel paths.

“There will be a suggested a unidirectional travel plan suggesting which way people go so you keep people moving, instead of bumping into each other,” she said.

Amdur said she hopes everyone turns out — regardless of age.

“Bring kids, you can make it fun for them. If they’re little, maybe they have a favorite animal and they can search for that in the art or they can search for their favorite color, and it makes a game out of looking at art and if you can make it a game, you’ll have fun.

Definitely bring kids, don’t leave them at home. This could be a multigenerational experience, bring the kids, the grandparents — this is a time to heal . . . it is open to everybody.”