By Julie Rossman
Correspondent
The first Inspired by Ryan Arts Fair was a success on so many levels. First, there were 300 donations from artists for the sale. Second, there was a steady crowd of customers who came to shop. Third, organizers succeeded in raising awareness about childhood cancer. And finally, more than $5,100 was raised for the MACC (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer) fund.
The Inspired by Ryan Arts Fair, held at the Union Grove Elementary School on Saturday, was inspired by Ryan Luxem, a Union Grove boy who lost his four-year battle with cancer early last year. He was 11 years old.
Ryan loved to both create and enjoy art. He was very talented at the art of origami and sold many of his creations at local craft fairs, designating all of his earnings to fight childhood cancer.
His mom, Amy Luxem, said he really enjoyed the craft fairs – both selling and looking around at all the different things that people made.
In keeping with Ryan’s wishes, his family and friends organized the Inspired by Ryan Arts Fair to continue raising money for the MACC fund.
Saturday’s event was a true community effort. There were 300 unique items donated by local artists for the sale including; pottery, blankets, hats and scarves, paintings, photographs and more.
Community members came out in strong support of the event with their purchases. Union Grove Elementary School 4th grade students made and sold more than 100 key chains.
Students also lined the halls with hand-made signs and posters with messages for Ryan. And of course, there was origami. Volunteers taught folks how to make the folded paper creations and sold the finished pieces.
Amy was thrilled with the amount of money raised by the event, but she also stressed another very important reason for the arts fair – to talk about cancer.
“Even if we didn’t make a ton of money, awareness is a big part of this,” she said.
Artists were asked to include statements of how their art may have been inspired by a childhood cancer patient or survivor. In addition, there was a large wall with names of children the Luxem’s have known who have been affected by cancer.
“We want to talk about childhood cancer, these kids and what they go through,” Amy said. “It’s something that affects how they live the rest of their lives,” she added.
Amy went on to explain how so many children get secondary cancers, just from the side effects of chemotherapy. “We’ve met so many kids…I want people to see what we see, so they know,” Amy said.
Amy was encouraged by artists who were already talking about what they will donate for next year. Until then, she wasn’t even sure if it would happen again or not, but after the great response this year, she says she expects it to be an annual event.
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