NOVI, MI.- The Fall Great Lakes Art Fair at the Rock Financial Showplace offers fine artists and craftspeople and their patrons an expansive regional marketplace, as well as an early launch to the traditional holiday shopping season. The fall GLAF will take place October 16-18, 2009 inside the sprawling “weather-free” Rock Financial Showplace, 46100 Grand River Ave in Novi. The Fall Great Lakes Art Fair follows the successful debut Spring GLAF, combining exclusive and desirable works from local, regional and national artists with a charming village marketplace setting, seasonal motif and café with delicious fare provided by Epoch Catering. Applications are being accepted now and are available at www.greatlakesartfair.com

The Great Lakes Art Fair replaced the successful touring Sugarloaf Art Fair, which visited the area bi-annually for the past 10 years. “We were so happy with the enthusiastic response from artists, sponsors and patrons to the Spring Fair” says Blair Bowman, Owner of the Rock Financial Showplace, “We had very positive feedback from all involved and we fully expect the Fall Great Lakes Art Fair to expand on every level.”

The GLAF is now one of the handful of annual events that are produced internally by the Rock Financial Showplace. Connie Mettler, a veteran of the art fair community since l979, is consulting the development of the Great Lakes Art Fair. Mettler’s career covers all facets of the industry, including artist management, exhibiting at over 400 art fairs, developing and supervising multiple events including small community art fairs, the Greektown Art Festival, the art component of Arts, Beats & Eats in Pontiac, and production manager for Motown Winter Blast Marketplace during the Super Bowl in Detroit. Her website www.ArtFairCalendar.com, has been ranked #1 by Google.

Mettler is well-known throughout the national art fair community and has developed strong relationships with artists and art fair professionals. “The timing has been perfect for the introduction of the new spring and fall Great Lakes Art Fairs,” says Mettler, “There has been a sizable reduction of large scale opportunities for artists to showcase their work. The Great Lakes Art Fair represents a strong addition to the regional art fair schedule that will help to fill that void, and we are making sure that space is affordable for most artists. ”