PRESS RELEASE: December 23, 2004

Greg Lawler’s Art Fair SourceBook™ is pleased to announce that the 2005 AFSB Award for “The Best Small Town Fine Art Festival in America” has been given to “Art on the Square” in Belleville, Illinois.

This award, the first of its kind, is given in recognition of three years of dedication, hard work and the commitment of the entire Belleville community, but especially on the part of Patty Gregory, who has guided this show from a first year event with no national ranking in 2002 to the “20th Best Art Fair in America” in 2004, an amazing accomplishment.

Aside from the fact that artists’ sales at this show are better than at all but 19 other art fairs across the entire country, this event stands out for several other important reasons:

1. With one of the most successful patron purchase programs in the country, the show all but guarantees that a very substantial pool of resources will be available for the purchase of art, months before the artists start to set up for the show, and 2005 will likely set yet another record.

2. The welcoming feeling generated by this unique community is palpable throughout this event, beginning with the supportive and hard working volunteers helping out the exhibitors on set up day, through the Saturday night artists’ social, to the ‘Thanks for Coming’ speech on Sunday morning from the town’s Mayor himself. The level of support for the artists is heart warming and exceptional.

3. Willingness to expand the marketing outreach into the St. Louis community to draw art lovers from well beyond the normal reach of a small town event. The effectiveness of this exemplary campaign is truly impressive. I wish other event directors would take a lesson from this approach.

I want to commend all those involved in making this event the incredible success that it has become in bringing together its growing community around the world of the arts festival.

Gregory J Lawler, Editor & Publisher,
Greg Lawler’s Art Fair SourceBook™
2003 NE 11TH AVENUE
PORTLAND, OR 97212
www.artfairsourcebook.com
800-358-2045