With no better way to spend a sunny Saturday, I made my way over to the Lakeview East Festival of the Arts at high noon today to see what this year’s fair would have on display. Upon entering from the north near Roscoe Street, you’re immersed in the sculpture garden, “Inspired Terrain: In a land of love, there is no garbage,” where the entire street is transformed into a woodsy landscape of repurposed natural materials, garments, bottles, and other household wares, easily transitioning one man’s junk to the neighborhood’s treasure.

Further meandering my way through the mixed media, I equipped myself with a slice of veggie pizza from Homemade Pizza Co. and headed south. Take your time checking out each tent, as the various types of art on display were all certainly noteworthy in their distinct ways. Some of the creative geniuses combined mediums, like Mary Potts of the unpronounceable Ypsilanti, Michigan. The first artist to win a nod from me; in each piece she integrates hundreds of contemporary family portraits into brilliant collages that candidly show every side of the subjects imaginable in one elaborate collage.

Later, a sign offering the warning “Caution: Punny Art” immediately drew me in to Howard Scott‘s 3D watercolor works that take a light-hearted, humorous approach to art, combining watercolor and wordplay into creative charts, graphs, and maps that filled his tent with continuous laughter. Eric Nye‘s interactive artwork across the way also offered some intellectual stimulation in complex, mathematical grids of artwork bearing different works on different sides of each rotating piece. One grid of 16 rotating sections can display 43,046,721 combinations, which may be helpful if he’s shooting for a Guiness world record.

Of course, I couldn’t leave without visiting a personal friend of mine, Tiago Ravazzi, at his booth near Belmont Avenue. I collected my thoughts and added some red, white, and blue to his interactive 9/11 memorial canvas that will be submitted to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City after tomorrow’s fairgoers add their own personal touches.

The East Lakeview Festival of the Arts will be open tomorrow, Sunday 9/11/11 from 10:00am to 5:00pm. You should go.

Welcome to Found in Town! Things are picking up, and we are preparing for the launch of the pilot program in the near future. In the meantime, read on to find out more about FiT and what we can find for you.

Found in Town is a free online lost and found system that will provide users with keychain tags and small stickers that assign you a personal serial number (your FiT code) at no cost to you. Tagging your personal belongings, like your keys, phone, camera, credit cards, will facilitate returning those items to you through our website if you should lose them. If your lost item is found, the individual will be directed to Found-in-Town.com, where they can send you, the owner, an anonymous direct message to coordinate returning your item to you.

This will involve local businesses (FiT partners), who will provide the network in your community. FiT partners will get to connect directly to you, and the cycle allows for them to offer their most loyal patrons exclusive discounts and events to be found throughout the week.

Continue to check our blog to find what’s going on in your community, such as concerts, fundraisers, and other events. Local bloggers: contact us if you’d like to submit a blog post for consideration, as the blog will be a communal effort and not one single voice.

And tell your favorite bar about us–we are currently working within the Lakeview and Lincoln Park neighborhoods to lock in the FiT partner bars for Found in Town’s pilot launch. Lakeview and Lincoln Park bar management, or anyone with further questions, can contact us at info@found-in-town.com.

In the meantime, Like us on facebook and follow us on Twitter @foundintown. Thanks for your patience–we will be here for you soon!

posted by Zach Haller, Founder and Finder
photo by Aaron Lewis. Follow him: @aaronglewis