With so many festivals happening around our neighborhood, we just want to be sure you know who we are as an organization and what we do each year.

The Bucktown Arts Fest is a non-profit, all-volunteer run, neighborhood celebration of the arts. All proceeds from the fest go to fund, develop and support arts education programming at Holstein Park and in the Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhoods.

Going strong for more than 30 years. What began as four artists showing their work in the park has grown into a community tradition that hosts an estimated 40,000 people each year. We were thrilled to be voted 2013 “Best Art Sale” in the Chicago Reader Readers’ Pick Poll.

Our fest is free to the public. We have no gates and no donation request. True to our roots, we are an arts fest put together by the community, for our community. If you wish to support our mission, we do have donation boxes at the Info Tent and the Beer Tent or you can join our Buck Up Club.

Our artists are not mass producers. They are individual artists who are at their booths to share their work with you. Each year, our jury selects 190 artists to be invited to the fest.

Our artist booth fees are currently $300 (or $200 for senior artists, ages 60 and over). These are among the lowest, if not the lowest, booth fees in the city. Other fests range from $400 to $1200 per booth.

Roughly 60% of the fest is paid for by artist and food vendor fees. 40% comes from beer, sangria, and merchandise sales. All proceeds above our expenses go to fund, develop, and support arts education programs in our neighborhood.

APPLY TO SELL AT THE BUCKTOWN ARTS FEST

Due to COVID-19 concerns, we’ve canceled the 2020 fest. We can’t wait to see you in 2021!

2021 fest dates: August 28 & 29

We’d love to have you apply for the fest. We support individual artists who represent their own handmade works.

If that sounds just like you, please head to Zapplication to get started!

The application opened in September 2020. At that time, you can apply here.

Application Fees

You will be charged a one-time, non-refundable fee of $35 to submit your application. The deadline is March 31 each year.

We don’t have a waitlist. Notifications of acceptance will be sent around May 15.

Booth Fees

If accepted by our jury, the fees are $300 per 10×10 booth & $200 for seniors (60 & over). We also collect a $25 City of Chicago Vendor Fee which we pay before the fest on your behalf. With no paid staff & little to no annual overhead costs, we are able to keep booth fees low so that we can offer opportunities to a greater number of artists who may not show at other art fairs.

A registered non-profit, all proceeds from the fest go to fund, develop & support arts education in local classrooms & at Holstein Park.