The East Lansing Art Festival and the MSU Arts and Crafts Show took over north campus and the downtown streets Saturday and Sunday, replacing the typical weekend traffic with the tents of over 200 combined art vendors. 

Renee Dwyer, who ran the merchandise booth for the East Lansing fair, said that the festival brings in revenue to the area at a time of year when most of its patrons are away for summer break. 

“It’s a really great thing for our community to have when the students are gone because it helps bring people to our downtown businesses,” Dwyer said. “They need our support when the students aren’t here.” 

The East Lansing festival showcases the art of vendors whose work is classified as fine art, while the MSU show features crafts, Dwyer said. 

Artist Lauren Cummings of Lauren Charesse Studios is a relief print maker. She said her art entails using linoleum and woodblock on paper to create her prints. This marked her second year selling her prints at the festival and the “good conversation with attendees” drove her to return to East Lansing for this year’s festival. 

“I’ve had a lot of people say that they don’t make anything, or they feel like they kind of make something, but I get inspiration from the people visiting the tent and the other makers here,” Cummings said. “I hope people also feel inspired coming here.” 

Student Made, an MSU organization for student-run businesses, had a tent with their various sellers, marketing junior and Events and Partnership Manager Yuktha Pulavarthi said.

She said that the tent featured eight different student sellers on Saturday, and five on Sunday.

“They all have different products, varying from stickers, to jewelry, to clothing,” Pulavarthi said. “We also have some crochet items and some comic books today.”