Renegade Craft Fair Chicago

The wife’s favorite event of the year.
Renegade Craft Fair is held in the middle of September sprawling the entirety of Division from Damen to Paulina. They have booths for days, well just Saturday and Sunday, where you can get all kinds of items from small independent business owners. I feel like it can be more mainstream then one may infer but it still has the homey feel of people running their own business.
There are a lot of similar booths across these events and others of the like but Renegade draws everyone else that is from out of town. Meet all of your Instagram shop owners and Etsy friends here.
Free to attend, not even a suggested donation.

I went to the Renegade Craft Fair on Sunday and first off it was perfect Fest weather! When I got there we were surprisingly able to find some free street parking.
The fest is huge!!! Probably the biggest one I’ve been to. They sold everything from crafts, to home products, to paintings, to jewelry. It was like the Etsy site had exploded over Division street. What I didn’t like was how crowded it was. Seriously you had a hard time trying to look through the booths because they were sardined so close together. You felt like you were constantly bumping into people.
I did like there were quite a few food vendors there and the line seemed to move slowly. I’m going to give this Fest a try again when it returns to Chicago in December (5^th & 6^th).

I have attended renegades craft fall fair twice in the last few years and each time I walk away feeling like I saw THE SAME piece of jewelry over and over again. I don’t feel like renegade does a very good job of curating artists who stand out in their creativity. They pick a style, and you see it over and over again. That can’t be good for vendors who are a selling similar items and are competing against each other. There are tons of amazing artists out there looking for great shows and exposure who don’t copy someone else. I wish renegade would embrace that instead of boring the pants off me. I most likely won’t be back for a very long time.

I love this fest. Tons of vendors, lots of eclectic things you can spend your money on. I usually walk away with one or two items. A good selection of food and drink vendors.
Be prepared for tons of strollers, people walking huge dogs, and 98% of the people not paying attention to where they are going.

Let me start off by saying that I love, love, love the Renegade Craft fair. This is in no way a criticism of the vendors at the fair, but of the TERRIBLE venue and/​or planning that took place this winter at the Bridgeport Arts Center. My partner and I have been attending the fair for years now, and this year’s holiday fair was by far the worst experience we’ve ever had.
We were met with a long line out in the cold when we arrived. Apparently, this was due to the limited space on the freight elevator used to carry people up to the fair. Willing to take the stairs (and to spare our 12month old 20 minutes out in the cold), we tried to skip the line and enter through an alternate door so we could walk a few flights of stairs up to the location. We were turned away from the stairs and barked at by staff who told us the only way up was using the elevator.
Fine.
I’m assuming the rationale there was to ensure that the space didn’t exceed its capacity. When we finally entered the fair, however, we had to squeeze through a thick crowd to see anything. The air was heavy and stuffy because the space was so overcrowded. There were lines of people waiting on elevators to LEAVE, and I knew we’d be joining them almost immediately because the place was so packed and poorly laid out it was unpleasant. There was even a long line just to enter the room where food sales were happening and apparently the whole place was out of booze (something we really needed once we saw what a disaster the place was). We never had these issues at the field house.
So sad.

Going down to Bridgeport for the fair is quite a trip! But, I was hoping that there would be more space. The Art Center is super cool, however it is just as tight as the fieldhouse in WP. And you have to get into an elevator with a bunch of other people to get into the market. Ugh. I felt dizzy once in… My friend had a cruddy 3’x6’ space that was so awkward… Maybe next year they should consider McCormick Place. If Martha Stewart is a sponsor and they are raffling off a Toyota, Renegade is getting closer to becoming a trade show. There’s really nothing «renegade» about this.
Years back Chicago Renegade featured CHICAGO Artists! WTF is going on here?! Most of these vendors are not from Chicago and there are many that have actual brick and mortar stores! Why can’t this be a fair for Chicago Artists? I am happy to see Renegade as a successful craft show, but mostly disappointed that there is more out of state vendors who have a Renegade craft fair in their own city.

Update time! Well, I did go to the holiday fair again, though I wouldn’t have if it was still in its former venue. It had just gotten too crowded and unweildy. BUT, they have moved to much bigger digs in the Bridgeport Arts Center. Lots of free parking around (and guys out directing the traffic).
Things in the new space do still needed some ironing out. For one thing, signage BLOWS. This is a big building and the entire space was not taken up by the event. Where is the entry? Which floor? This door is an exit not an entrance: put up a sign rather than yelling at people about it.
There was definitely a lot more elbow room than in the past, though, which was the critical reason for movement to the bigger space. You did not have that «carried by the tide» feeling that made shopping in previous years feel rushed.
However, some layout considerations could still be made. For example, the food and drink areas need a bigger spot of their own. Tamales, cream puffs, gelato etc were jammed in one small side room which no surprise got mobbed at some point. Then the drink area (and its annexed «abandoned husbands» area) near the front of the larger shopping room had a HUGE line when we were getting ready to leave, which started to affect the flow of traffic.
Overall, though, this was way preferable to the previous couple of years, and my friend and I bought a variety of gifts (for ourselves and others), including Orchard Farms shaving soap and lip balm, Bright Beam coasters, You Are Beautiful posters, Peoples Garment Company tshirt, Nourishing Notes kitchen towels and Irreverant Greetings cards! And one cannot forget about the FREE Magnolia photobooth experience (replete with holiday props)!
Though they still need to work out a few kinks, the rebooted Renegade Holiday Fair makes me want to summon my inner hipster shopper and hit the ATM machine. It’s only one week-​end, so go get those gifts! Happy Holidays :)

I was never into arts and craft events until I found Renegade Craft Fair. I really like the Renegade Craft Fair on Division Street. Lots of local vendors and artists. Lots of artists from other places as well. It’s all very Indie, chic, modern and, well, it’s for sure not Grandma’s craft fair.
No admission fee. And it is several blocks long, which takes a little while to get thru.
There are various food vendors, cash, no tickets or anything silly like that. They have Goose Island Beer and Tito’s vodka drinks.
What I did not like was people who take up room in booths or on the street with their dogs in large strollers. Yes, in fact there were a few people with dogs in strollers, which is their business, until they are all up in the way, then I think it is completely ridiculous.

Love this fest.
Lots of great stuff, a little pricey.
Definitely crowded.
TONS of vendors, lots local. It reminds me of Etsy in person.

I love everything about this fair. Like another reviewer said, it is Etsy personified! Booths upon booths of jewelry, art prints and unique home goods. Vendors from all over the country come in for this event, so a much broader array than many of the other local fests. It took a full two hours for me to make it up and down the aisles — and I mean that in a good way.

Etsy in real life! This fair is cute, lots and lots of vendors (sorry, «makers»). I do think it can get a little repetitive. I can only take so many tents selling terrariums, artisanal soaps and artsy fartsy jewelry in one day. That being said, everyone we spoke with was very friendly and seemed great.
Since most people attend these things to casually peruse, go earlier in the day when it’s not as crowded. By the time we wrapped up, it seemed like there were more strollers and pups than people around, so we were ready to head out.

I love crafts, art, fairs, festivals, and making crafts but I HATE this craft fair. The vendors and patrons disrespect our neighborhood, park illegally on our streets, and speed down residential streets in the wrong direction. Some of the stuff is original and truly handmade and truly artistic. But a lot of it is just way overpriced stuff bc they decided to call it «art». 2 pieces of fabric sewn together with a button on it is not art and is not worth over $ 20. Onezies that babies will poop in and destroy after 2 wears are also not worth $ 30 plus.

I was pretty excited to actually be in town this year to attend the Renegade Craft Fair in my neighborhood. I had heard really great things about it, so my expectations were pretty high. There were tons of vendors, but as another review stated, most of items resembled each other and weren’t very original. There were some awesome prints there. All in all, I browsed a ton but didn’t purchase a single thing.

Yeah, call me spinster, corny, hipster, oldie and whatever the hell you want.
I just LOVE this fair.
Apparently, it’s also very attractive to children under the age of 3 and to dogs of any size and breed. And more than a couple of idiots who haven’t figured out how to have a conversation among themselves without creating a traffic jam and and throwing all neighboring female (me included) into PMS rage.
If you pass the crowd element though, there’s lot to do and to see. I particularly love the unique posters, jewelry pieces and unique bibelots that you can find, and I am a big buyer. What can I say. All the vendors are so nice, they should be cast in the remake of «The Sound of Music» (what’s up with that, by the way? Why is no one touching it?) I feel in love with a tiny piece of wood shaped as my beloved homeland with a hollowed heart to figure Paris, and with its shiny silver chain, it was only $ 25. Love has no price, I say.
Go early on Saturday, and take your Tylenol with you.

The grand dame of contemporary craft fairs, Renegade continues to draw top makers from around the country to its summer show even as it takes its show on the road to Austin, Brooklyn, SF, LA and London.
The scope of the event is daunting, and the jewelry and printmaking can get repetitive, but finishing the entire loop on Division makes this out-​of-​towner feel good about planning a weekend around it.
My goal is to complete a global Renegade Grand Slam before it’s all said and done, but I’ll be surprised if any of the other events live up to the original.

If you like arts and crafts then this festival is heaven on earth. This was my first time coming to this fair so I didn’t really expect much. There are a lot of booths all showcasing beautiful pieces: hair accessories, necklaces, earrings, coasters, bags, posters & postcards, journals and tons more. Worth a few hours of browsing and a lot of the items makes for a nice gift. Good crowd, too.

Dear Holiday Renegade… NEW VENUE, STAT. I love the Pulaski Park venue itself, but it is getting WAY too big to be held there. So, so crowded… so, so hot… couldn’t see anything, had to fight to get my way to the front of a table… blech.
I still love Renegade, and I love supporting artists & all that good jazz, but the holiday fair is getting less & less enjoyable every year because of this location situation.
Renegade is good for a few things… t-​shirts, necklaces, things with owls/​mustaches on them. A lot of the stuff isn’t my fancy, but I always find at least 1 or 2 gifts for my people here. But seriously. This venue. Over it.
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2013 edit (Proof of need of a new venue): I thought about going on Sunday this year, but then decided that no, I had no desire to carry my coat around while dodging a giant crowd of people and being miserable. Sorry, vendors.

I must be totally out of the loop… the 10^th annual?! This was my first! I will definitely keep my eyes out for another opportunity. (I also passed on info to my friend in London)
Its overwhelming but in a good way. I was on a time crunch and really had only one goal of finding two crafters I’ve met in other areas. (I actually recognized another etsy shop out of the blue!)
I would loved to have tried some food but I’ll have to try that another time… the lines were a bit long. I also wish I’d hit the vintage section! :(The music breaks up the walks and helped me remember where I was as I tried to canvass the whole area!
I wanted to spend more time with mohops and Megan Lee Designs but booths were busy! Great for them :)
This was a fantastic beginning of fall trip and I look forward to putting it on my calendar again.

The Renegade Craft Fair always marks the end of summer for me, and is always my fave fair to go to. There’s a lot of overkill on certain things and the prices are high, but there’s always a booth or two that stand out to me. This year it was:
— The woodworking dude with the throwback videogame coasters and cutting boards. You rock.
— Mini plants in bright-​colored plastic dinosaurs. Shoulda gotten one for my cube.
— Anyone making anything with antique typewriter keys.
Now to scour Etsy…

I’m guessing some people seem to find themselves in a dilemma before visiting Renegade. They had grown out their ironic beards to just the right length (just too long to be inappropriate for an office job but just too short to look homeless) or they had just lost enough weight to fit into their skinny jeans or they had just discovered a band they were sure that absolutely no one else had heard of. But they had nowhere to show their hipster glories off. Rainbo Club was played out and dark, they had slept with all the new people at the Flat Iron, and they got banned from the Burlington. What to do, what to do, what to do. It’s a existential dilemma! Oh, look, a quick peak at the Onion A/​V Club showed them a Renegade Craft Fair this weekend! Joy! Or, sorry, understated excitement mixed with scorn at the idea of attending a street festival.
Alright, not everyone there is a hipster. But I swear this festival is about as narrowcast to the avant garde (read kitschy) as any in Chicago. It’s as if Rotofugi threw up all over four blocks of Division.
Plush alien dolls? 50s ad key chains? Purses made from 80s hair metal records? Concert posters from Pittsburgh of Arctic Monkeys (alright, I admit, I almost bought this — I just love that band)? David Hasselhoff t-​shirts? Yes, all there.
OH MY IRONY!
Oh my *expensive* irony! It’s amazing how much people can sell something that cost $ 4 to screen print for. I’m all for the homemade movement but not $ 30 for it. There is so much junk here that I have a theory. This movement is kept afloat by people buying other people’s crap in the hopes that other people will buy theirs.
That all being said, it’s not a bad fair. There are some fun things to be found that a buyer could explore the internet for hours for an not come across. Some of the vendors are really good at their crafts and have high quality merchandise (especially the jewelry). Just go in knowing what you’re looking for, skip the booths that aren’t selling it, and you can survive (relatively cheaply). Even if you’re not a hipster.
Just a disclaimer: I am a sucker for silly refrigerator magnets so I managed to spend $ 10 there. So maybe, in the end, I’m a bit of that kind of guy. Though the only good part of Rainbo Club is the photo booth. I swear.