Betsy Williams will be one of the many vendors at the Funky Ferndale Art Fair with her handcrafted pieces of art made from butterflies.
By: Mike Koury | Woodward Talk | Published September 16, 2025
FERNDALE — The weirdest and funkiest of Ferndale’s art scene soon will be back for the Funky Ferndale Art Fair.
The 21st annual Funky Ferndale Art Fair will take place Sept. 19-21 on West Nine Mile Road with more than 140 artists in attendance. The event each year is held in concurrence with the DIY Street Fair on East Nine Mile Road.
Event organizer Mark Loeb was excited to bring back the festival once again. He said the hardest part of producing the event was attempting to come up with something fun, different and interesting for attendees, and to give them something they aren’t expecting.
One of the things Loeb said he was excited to bring to the Funky Ferndale Art Fair was the creation of a 9-foot-tall FerndAlien puppet made by Jeff Semmerling that will roam the art fair throughout the weekend.
“I think people are going to really have fun with that,” he said. Semmerling also will be helping kids make their own bird puppets for free at a station at Allen and Troy streets.
The art featured at the Funky Ferndale Art Fair ranges from clothing, handbags and jewelry to intricately crafted pieces of art.
“What I’ve been trying to stress also this year is there might be some artists that people have seen in other shows this year, but they saved their best or their funkiest or their weirdest for when they’re coming here,” Loeb said.
Betsy Williams, of Davisburg, has been a regular at the fair for a number of years with her business, Wings and Things. Williams uses real insects, mainly butterflies that she procures after they have died from sustainable farms, to make her art and craft them into kaleidoscopes or a poison dart frog.
A lover of butterflies and insects since childhood, Williams said she’s blessed that she was able to take something that started as a hobby and make it into something bigger.
In coming back to the Funky Ferndale Art Fair for another year, what Williams loves about the event is how “non beige” it is compared to other art fairs, and what you find there won’t be at other shows.
“All artists look at the world differently, but the artists at Funky Ferndale look at it, like, upside-down,” she said. “We’re the fish that’s swimming upstream. It’s definitely different. You’re going to find edgy and you’re going to find (something) controversial and you’re going to find, like, everything there. It’s a feast for the senses. The food is yummy. I’ve gotten close to a lot of the other artists, so there’s a lot of camaraderie there as well. The town itself is so appreciative of art, and it’s a young town and it’s a fun town and they just are so appreciative of art. So, even if people aren’t buying the pieces, they’re coming in, they’re, like, crying, they’re being so overwhelmed and inspired and just spending so much time looking at each piece, and that means a lot.”
The fair also will feature an interactive project from the Detroit Institute of Arts, an art experience from Dale Teachout and the return of the authors tent with dozens of local writers.
The hours for the Funky Ferndale Art Fair will be 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20; and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21.
For more information, visit funkyferndaleartfair.com.