The Bucktown Arts Fest is a non-profit, all volunteer-run, neighborhood celebration of the arts— with no corporate sponsorship. Admission is free. All proceeds from the Fest go to develop and support arts and community programming for the Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhoods.

Celebrating our 25th anniversary in 2010, the Bucktown Arts fest has grown to become a neighborhood tradition and one of the city’s – and the country’s – premier arts festivals showcasing close to 200 participating artists, plus countless musicians, dancers, poets and more.

It all began one hot Chicago summer in the early 80s when four neighborhood artists (Bob Smeltzer, Joe Kotzman, Tony Cachapero and Rodney Patterson) decided to have an art fair — a picnic in the park. Rodney suggested that it might be a good opportunity for local artists to show and share their work to each other and to their neighbors. The nascent arts fest was held on the Saturday before the Bucktown Summerfest, then in its fifth season and held at the crossroads of Armitage and Milwaukee avenues. Each participating artist contributed $20 for printing and other costs, and got the word out as best they could with Joe (design) and Bob (lettering) collaborating on a poster advertising the event. Rodney's wife, Carol Severino, played drums in a local band named the Subterraneans which played at the one-day event. A neighbor made and sold guacamole. Bob's wife, Avis, was given the task of registering and assigning the artists to their places.

The group got permission and closed Oakley from Lyndale to Belden, and 20 artists set up exhibitions of their work in the street. The band set up in the amphitheater. People came by and were friendly and encouraging. At the wrap-up, Tony emphatically declared that “the art fair was a two-day event!”

In 1988, Bucktown Fine Arts became a non-profit organization enabling it to provide arts activities, via grants and fundraising. Those activities included – and still include – the Bucktown Arts fest itself, as well as poetry readings, art classes, theater, etc. Carol Miller Tarnoff, Diane Rodenberg Towber, and Henry Seale made this step possible.

The health and longevity of the Bucktown Arts Fest are possible thanks to the stewardship of Phil Mrozinski (past chair), Brian Mattson (past co-chair), Maria Mariottini, Kyle Carstensen (current president) and the labor of countless other community representatives, committee members and volunteers.