The Omaha Art Fair is making its debut this weekend, picking up where the Omaha Summer Arts Festival left off after 50 years.
Adam Weiss, a longtime Omaha artist, decided that he wanted to carry on the Art Festival’s legacy. He created the Omaha Art Fair, which is making its debut Friday.
“I started doing art shows when I was 18,” said Weiss. “Did Summer Arts Festival for probably about 12 years, including the last three years down here in Aksarben, and it’s always been such a good show. Just couldn’t let it end without having something replace it.”
Weiss says that arts fairs like this one are important because they bring people together from different economic and social backgrounds to celebrate art.
“If you have $0 and you’re $100,000 in debt… you can listen to music the entire time, you can watch demonstrations, and you can enjoy an entire weekend looking at beautiful art and even creating some things with the kids to take home for free,” Weiss said. “If you have lots of money and you want to fill up some walls on your house, please come on out and support the 160-some-odd artists and four local galleries doing demonstrations, so there’s just a little bit of something for everybody.”
Something that Weiss felt was important was inviting back many of the same artists who had been regulars at the Omaha Summer Arts Festival.
Karien Bredenkamp started attending the Omaha Arts Festival in 2016, eventually joining as an artist in 2022. She was shocked when she learned that the festival ended in 2024.
When Bredenkamp saw the Omaha Art Fair was carrying on the festival’s legacy, she was excited. She says art fairs allow artists to better connect with their community.
“I’ve had people spend a lot of time in the booth asking me about all my pieces,” Bredenkamp said. “So to be able to engage with the artist directly is something that a lot of people want to have.
Bredenkamp says an art fair or festival allows art to be more accessible.
“If you have a family with a couple of toddlers, they’re not going to walk downtown and go into a fancy gallery,” Bredenkamp said. “But an art fair has this outdoor vibe. There’s food trucks. It’s so much easier for them to have access to art and to expose their kids to art.”
The Omaha Art Fair will be held at Omaha’s Stinson Park. It starts Friday and continues through Sunday.
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