My daughters absolutely loved seeking out the fairy doors in Ann Arbor. I discovered a similar door…read moreat the Whitmore Lake post office. And at last count, there are three in the park next door to the post office. :-) Enjoy the magic!

This is my daughter's favorite pastime in Ann Arbor. She loves fairies, mythical creatures,…read morefantasy, and the entire magic of the experience. We love to seek out the tiny treasures around the streets and buildings. You can never be too old for fairies and fun. Over the years we have taken so many pictures of the kids next to the different doors. We were very inspired to purchase our own doors and fairy gardens. It really adds a bit of charm to this city and we are never tired of looking for that bit of joy hidden around the corners or tucked in the stores.

I hosted a Meetup for photographic artists on a cold, snowy day here recently, and the photos we…read morecaptured were amazing. Prior to coming here, I had heard that it was overrun with homeless and could be potentially dangerous, but I looked into it and felt it was more than safe, particularly in the winter, when there are less people in the actual alley, if any at all. It's a great spot for something different to add to your portfolio, and we'll likely make it a yearly Meetup here.

Such a cute, fun vibe! So colorful and great to just walk in, but also has great photo…read moreopportunities. Also love to see the local community expressing themselves freely.

Alley Art #2 (named as such because no one has claimed authorship to the murals just yet) is very…read moresimilar to the Alley Art project in Liberty st. by artist Monte Fowler, except that there's no Michael Jackson impersonator dancing there, and it's smaller. Located on University Ave. next to S3 Safe Sex Shop, it's worth a look on the merit of the art itself (check out my photos). The muralist seems to be unlike Fowler in that the art has an Eastern influence. It's for this reason I'd suggest taking the pictures with a grain of salt, and checking out the art for yourself! If that doesn't persuade you, then what else are you going to do on a Sunday afternoon that's free?

The naked mile hasn't been the same since about 1999…read more That was the biggest year ever, when hundreds of students ran naked down South University Street, across the Diag and into Regents Plaza, (some of them celebrated by wading through the fountain near the student union, or by giving the cube a spin), and tens of thousands turned out to watch them run. I was new to U of M in 1998, and I had no idea that there was any such event, so I was a little surprised to leave Angell Hall one evening and find naked students streaming across the diag and up the steps of the art museum. Among other things, I learned that evening that people without clothes really need to be carefully posed to look good. Running doesn't help, and I imagine stop motion photography is worse. The tradition of running naked on the last day of classes started in 1986 when a group of athletes did it on a whim. The event got bigger every year until University President Lee Bollinger, a very dour man, made a fuss about it, and the police started threatening to arrest naked people, something they still haven't done, as far as I know. The American Pie sequel is based on the real Naked Mile at U of M. Personally, I think a lot of presidential hopes will be dashed by the photos that were taken that night in 1999, but I never saw any harm in letting the students have their little romp. I'm sure there is still some surreptitious streaking going on around the end of the semester, even now.

Wow! I wasn't even born when this event first started happening. My roomate had an old videotape…read moreof it she always showed us. Crazzzzy!!! I wish *I* could have run in it ... haha

Local in A2. Very interesting time to be here because the foot traffic downtown explodes. The art…read morebooths are fun to see but a lot of it is stupidly expensive. Food options are also super limited; it's a few food trucks with local businesses selling overpriced iterations of some of their fare. A couple of happy hour spots I like in town shut their discounts down for the weekend. Most art is unexceptional. I really don't feel like anything is worth purchasing but it is fun to browse. With that said. It was fun to see the variety of works on offer. The La Croix booth (free la Croix seltzers) and pickle booths ($8 for a small, $11 for a large), were some of the most popular stands I saw. Perhaps there could be more of a consumable stand next year.

AA Art Fair is one of the best events of the year in AA and definitely one I look forward to every…read moresingle year! My challenge to myself each year is to visit every nook and cranny of art fair because it is EXPANSIVE! My strategy is to go more than one day (obviously a little difficult to do if you're coming into town for this each time, but still completely worth it) so that I can spend at least one day looking at everything, MARINATE on it all, and then come back another day in the same weekend to buy everything in a less impulse-centric way! The AA Art Fair goes on for a whole weekend in July each summer, normally ranging from Thursday to Sunday! There are well over 1,000 vendors to look at and it basically spans across many of the streets throughout all of Ann Arbor (Main, Liberty, State, South U, East U, University, Washington, and more!). It's not only Michigan's, but the WHOLE NATION'S, largest JURIED art fair and it worth checking out a thousand times over! I've been checking out the art fair basically every year since 2010 and I've loved to see how it has evolved over the years! Obviously there are some vendors that keep coming back and that I have gotten to know over the years, but there's also so many new and incredible vendors that show up from year to year just waiting to be discovered and it's absolutely the funnest thing ever! The only downside to the art fair is how HOT it can be given that it takes place at the peak of Michigan summer, so take precautions with sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, and PLENTY of water breaks and/or duck into shops throughout AA for brief respite as needed! It's wonderful because there are also tons of the AA storefronts that you can check out during art fair as well because they'll put on massive deals knowing that art fair is going on! AA Art Fair is truly the best! I hope everyone gets to check it out at some point in their lives and am eagerly looking forward to next July's art fair again!

Such a wonderful market. Full of beauty and friendliness, it's located in Kerrytown and operates…read moreevery Sunday from 11am-4pm. Every week is different, because there are new artists all the time. Most weeks you can find handmade jam, beautiful artwork, amazing pottery and just about any medium you can think of. Definitely worth making a day of brunch and then exploring the market for awesome finds. Also great to bring out of town guests or to find the perfect gifts.

This is always an awesome place to visit. I go at least once a month. It is a great place to find…read moreunique gifts. I got my mom a painting for Mother's Day and it was a huge hit. Highly recommend checking it out.

Braun Court is a court off of Fourth Ave of homes converted to businesses sometime in the 1980s…read more Current businesses include: -Aut Bar -Common Language Bookstore -Siam Cuisine -Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project There is a charming and adorable courtyard between the buildings that is a perfect place to enjoy a summer evening in Ann Arbor. This is right across the street from Kerrytown so it is a perfect place to add to a weekend trip to the Market!

Aptly named "Alley Art," artist Monte Fowler did a wondrous job turning this boring alley into his…read moreown art haven. The mural runs on both sides of the alley almost completely through the block. From the website photos you can see that it's very involved, intricate work. What makes this alley so special isn't just that it's had hundreds of hours of work done to it. Because of its high profile, many local artists, both tag artists and otherwise, have added their two-cents to the alley as well. There's a sub-alley that goes parallel to liberty that's completely covered with chewed bubblegum. There's plenty of stencils, as well as poems, stories, and other small pieces of art over top Folwer's work and on the cement. What also makes this alley worth a look is the musicians/performers that hang out here, panhandling. (If you're not scared of those sorts!) There's a flute player, an accordion player, and a horn player that frequent the alley. As well, there's a man dressed like Michael Jackson circa Thriller that dances in the alley with a boombox... not surprisingly, playing MJ's tunes. He's my absolute favorite. Give him and the alley a visit!

Actually the artist who designed and then painted all the murals in art alley was A2 native artist…read moreKatherine Tombeau (not Fowler) and a bevy of friends...so the citation below is incorrect and Fowler should NOT be claiming someone else's work as his own...LAME!!!

Straight from their website: "The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the longest-running independent and…read moreexperimental film festival in North America, established in 1963...The six-day festival presents 40 programs with more than 180 films from over 20 countries of all lengths and genres, including experimental, animation, documentary, narrative, hybrid and performance based works." Ann Arbor is a hip but rather small college town and events like this are what make me feel so lucky to be from here. The film festival is a great opportunity to experience an event that you would otherwise have to travel to a much larger city to enjoy. This film festival is organized and run beautifully and is on par with the much larger film festivals in larger cities. Ann Arbor is truly lucky to have the Ann Arbor Film Festival and anyone who has the chance will be lucky to take advantage of it!

The oldest festival in America, and an internationally recognized event…read more It's possible to screen a lot of new, exciting and avante-garde film in a short period of time when the festival takes over Ann Arbor.