Actually, you could say “Paderewski” started the whole idea – Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who brought classical music and fine art to the Bucktown neighborhood in 1919 and 1939.  Today, you can almost feel the reverberations of those times.

In 1984, four neighborhood artists (Bob Smeltzer, Joe Kotzman, Tony Cachapero and Rodney Patterson) decided to have an art fair — a picnic in the park. Rodney suggested that it might represent a good opportunity for local artists to show and share their work to each other and to their neighbors. They thought their nascent art fair might fit in with the Bucktown Summerfest which, then in its fifth season, was held on Armitage and Milwaukee avenues.  The art fair would be held on Saturday, and the Summerfest on Sunday. Each artist contributed $20 for printing and other costs, and got the word out as best they could with Joe (design) and Bob (lettering) collaborating on a poster advertising the event.  Rodney's wife, Carol Severino, played drums in a local band named the Subterraneans which played at the one-day event.  A neighbor made and sold guacamole.  Bob's wife, Avis, was given the task of registering and assigning the artists to their places. 

The group got permission and closed Oakley from Lyndale to Belden, and 20 artists set up exhibitions of their work in the street.  The band set up in the amphitheater.  People came by and were friendly and encouraging.  At the wrap-up, Tony emphatically declared that “the art fair was a two-day event!”

Four years later, in 1988, Bucktown Fine Arts became a non-profit organization enabling it to provide arts activities, via grants and fundraising. Those activities included – and still include – the Bucktown Arts fest itself, as well as poetry readings, art classes, theater, etc.  Carol Miller Tarnoff, Diane Rodenberg Towber, and Henry Seale made this step possible.