Those who didn\u2019t get a chance to say a proper goodbye to the Bellevue Arts Museum at its old building<\/a>, following its indefinite closure in 2024<\/a>, will still have a chance to view exhibits there during the upcoming Bellevue Arts Fair Weekend.<\/p>\n The multiday festival offers two robust arts-and-crafts fairs \u2014 BAM\u2019s Arts Fair and Bellevue Downtown Association\u2019s Downtown Arts Market \u2014 for the (free) price of one, taking over downtown Bellevue through Sunday. It marks the second year of collaboration between BAM and BDA, who first joined forces in 2025<\/a> to produce one of the largest arts-and-crafts fairs<\/a> in the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n This year, 350 artist booths will appear in Bellevue Square alongside live music performances, food vendors and hands-on activities like woodturning and doll-making. About 150,000 attendees are expected to come through the festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n BAM\u2019s Arts Fair will be concentrated on the first level of Bellevue Square\u2019s West Parking Garage, while the Downtown Arts Market will take over the PACCAR lot and stretches of 106th Avenue Northeast, with a Creative Corridor connecting the two along Northeast Sixth Street. The location has shifted slightly from previous years due to construction, so organizers encourage downloading their new app<\/a> for navigation and detailed information on exhibits and performances.<\/p>\n \u201cIn many cases, a patron may not know they’re in one fair or the other,\u201d said Patrick Bannon, president of the Bellevue Downtown Association. \u201cIt just made sense for us to present a unified experience for people.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, several major exhibits will be featured inside the old BAM building \u2014 now owned by KidsQuest Children\u2019s Museum.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re so happy to have one more opportunity to be in the building and to do programming here,\u201d said BAM CEO Cassandra Johnston. \u201cThere’s so many people who have connections to this building and this organization. \u2026 It’s such an important part of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n BAM\u2019s Arts Fair has existed since the 1940s<\/a>, predating \u2014 and now outliving \u2014 the physical institution itself on Bellevue Way Northeast. This year marks the fair\u2019s 80th anniversary, joined in step by BDA\u2019s much younger Downtown Arts Market, which was established in 1990.<\/p>\n The decision for both fairs to collaborate came after BAM\u2019s announcement in 2024 that it was closing indefinitely<\/a> due to a financial crisis and its filing for receivership<\/a> \u2014 a court process similar to bankruptcy in which an independent third party takes over a business in order to protect its assets and pay its creditors. BAM emerged from receivership last month<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n BAM\u2019s downtown Bellevue building will become the permanent home of KidsQuest Children\u2019s Museum<\/a>, with a projected date of early 2029.\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnston said it is \u201clikely\u201d that BAM will end up on the Bellevue College campus, but details are still up in the air.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think a lot of people are thinking that the museum doesn’t exist anymore,\u201d said Johnston. \u201cThe organization is absolutely committed to continuing to be in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that BAM has no intention of letting the fair fall to the wayside, guaranteeing its return for its 81st birthday next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt will likely look different. It looks different every year, though,\u201d said Johnston. \u201cIt will happen in some space, somewhere, sometime, somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n The ability to display exhibitions in the old BAM building during this year\u2019s fair gave organizers the opportunity to think big. They are holding what is planned to be the first iteration of a yearslong exhibition series called \u201cLiving Traditions,\u201d which intends to cover different communities and artistic traditions in the Pacific Northwest. This year\u2019s version is focused on Japanese art and traditions in the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n The physical programming being featured during the fair \u2014 in-person demonstrations of woodblock printing, ceramics, calligraphy and more \u2014 is only a fraction of the curatorial work done by art historian Anna-Marie Moblard Meier and master Japanese calligrapher Shizu Usami for the exhibition. The bulk of that work lives online<\/a> \u2014 a compilation of historical context and information about public art across the region relating to Japanese tradition \u2014 and is accessible to the public anytime.\u00a0<\/p>\n