Well, yesterday Romy and I went to the Naperville Art Fair, which is a yearly event on Naperville’s Riverwalk – a series of parks/paths along the DuPage River in the midst of the downtown area.
I’ve never been to this art fair – one of the bigger ones in the northern/western Chicago burbs – and, to be honest, I’ve never been to Naperville. I’ve heard a lot about the town, especially about the riverwalk, but never been.
Naperville seems to be doing something right: There is a mix of the old and new buildings in the downtown area, and the parking is easy to get to and free. The riverwalk, in particular, is genius. I saw a before and after picture of the river’s edges, and, well, so much better now. Nicely done.
Overall, Naperville seems to be making an effort to woo folks to the downtown area – parking, riverwalk, plantings – that are not inexpensive but may be loss leaders. Even during the crazy day of the art fair (a big deal), the town seemed accessible, prices not jacked up and so on.
Smart.
What follows, in no particular order, are some impressions of Naperville or the Naperville Art Fair.
Naperville does a nice job of making the downtown area inviting. From the riverwalk to the informational signs to something as silly (?) as plantings, this makes the town very accessible and inviting. Yes, there is a cost involved in all: signs, plantings, river barriers. Yet if it brings folks downtown, there’s an ROI, ja?
Between the signs downtown and the excellent web info, we really never got lost. Yeah, we should have researched restaurants better and so on, but, overall, well done Naperville!
A large art fair that was a nice change of pace. I go to a fair number of art fairs, and a lot are just jewelry and crafts.
This one has a fair amount of “different” art – like the Humpty Dumpty statues above (in a lot of fun permutations).
Different art – although pictures (photos) on canvas was a trend that I’m not a fan of that was reinforced here. But – overall vs. other fairs over the last couple of years – I’d go again. Different art and great location.
If for nothing but the fashions. See pic above – she’s carrying a portfolio so probably an artist, but…really?
And the music was excellent – there were several acts, the one pictured above was playing Pachelbel’s Canon – Great tune, even better live.
Best live under the sun next to a river in the midst of an art fair. Well done Naperville.
After a long day of perusing art, listening to classical music and walking the riiver walk, of course one is hungry!
Naperville has a variety of restaurants, and we tried Blackfinn.
Our bad.
It had a rooftop patio – nice – but from that point on, everything went downhill:
- Tag-team waitresses. Still not certain whom our “real” waitress was.
- Pleasant staff – very helpful. Everyone wanted to do this or that (get water, take order, etc), but, uh, “Who’s in charge?”
- Underwhelming food: Romy’s meal was tepid – fries included. Mine was the right temp, but – not impressive. I ordered Chilean sea bass, and it was very good. But – and I’m not cheap or a foodie – the bass was small. About the size of a half or two-thirds stick of butter, a little larger diameter. And this was the most expensive thing on the menu. Came with a couple of rice cakes and a HALF-plate of steamed/boiled lemon leaves. Blackfinn is now on the blacklist…
- No pics/links to Blackfinn intentional. Not bad enough to spank, but certainly not good enuf to give intertube juice to same.
Badly done Naperville!