50th Anniversary of Lemonade Art Fair at St. Cloud State

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- It's been a tradition on the St. Cloud State University campus for five decades now. This is the 50th annual Lemonade Concert and Art Fair.

The event runs Thursday, June 22nd from 11:00 a.m. until 8:30 p.m.

From 1974 through 1998 it was held in July or August, but it has been in late June since 1999. The first fair featured more than 40 artists, and by the mid-90s as many as 300 art vendors were part of the fair.

Lemonade Art Fair, phot courtesy of SCSU

Christa Martin is the Director of Civic Engagement and Assessment. She says many of this year's 150 art vendors have been coming to the fair for years and they will have some special signage at their booths.

Looking through our list of art vendor applications, we asked them how many years have they been participating. There's actually been quite a few who hit the 20, 30, 40 year mark.

Besides the art, there will be 15 food trucks on campus. Little Lemons children's activities will be on the south end of Stewart Hall.

She says there will be a special chalk art display looking back at the past 50 years.

We will have a special chalk art performance by the Chalk Twins. That's a signature thing we are doing. People can watch them create a mural of past Lemonade portraits.

A new event this year is the Husky Express. SCSU's state-of-the-art lab experience will provide activities geared toward 'the science of art'.

Lemonade Art Fair, photo courtesy of SCSU

The opening ceremony for Granite City Days featuring the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra starts at 7:00 p.m. inside Ritsche Auditorium.

The Minnesota Orchestra performed at the first Lemonade Art Fair. They've performed at the fair 13 times over the years. The St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra first played at the show in 1995. They are planning a special performance this year commemorating the 50th anniversary.