Art Fair on the Square turns Capitol into an art magnet for tourists, gawkers and buyers

At the corner of East Washington Avenue and Pinckney Street, visitors to the 50th Art Fair on the Square walked between two state capitol buildings -- the real one in the background, and the miniature one astride the Madison isthmus in the decorative fountain at the corner. Madison's first "Sidewalk Art Show" featured 43 artists showing 50 works, and sales totaled $550. Five decades later, there are ten times as many artists showing thousands of works, and total revenues for the event, which benefits the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, were expected to exceed $2.3 million.