Car Cruises, Laumeier Art Fair Set to Return to Sunset Hills

Rejoice art and car lovers! Two major events are returning to Sunset Hills this summer.

Memories Car Club is once against hosting weekly car cruises beginning in April, and the annual Art Fair at will be held May 11 through May 13. Both events were approved by the Sunset Hills Board of Aldermen Tuesday.

The car cruises are the largest in Missouri with as many as 15,000 spectators attending each cruise in the summer months, according to Car Club member Bruce Shatto.

“We’ve been very successful,” Shatto said. “ We don’t know what we’re doing right, but it’s working.”

The cruises feature a variety of cars and is held at the Faith Church of St. Louis. All funds raises are distributed to local food pantries. Last year, the club donated about $6,500 to the pantries, according to Shatto.

This is the 17th consecutive year for the family-oriented cruises.

“We work very hard to have a class act and to make it a family-centered event,” Shatto said.

The Board voted 7 to 1 to help sponsor the upcoming Art Fair by providing up to $6,300. The funds will be drawn from the city’s general fund, which has $2.1 million, according to Alderman Thomas Hrastich of Ward 2.

Alderman Claudia Svoboda of Ward 4 said she wholeheartedly supported helping fund the fair because it was an “important and traditional” event for the city.

Douglas McGuire of Sunset Hills, a former alderman, requested the board permanently amend the city’s budget to ensure future sponsorship of the fair.

Last year, the fair drew more than 15,400 people from the St. Louis area, according to Art Fair Director Marie Oberkirsch. A major draw was the Sunset Hills Music Festival, which will return on Saturday, May 12.

The fair will feature the work of a 150 artists whose average revenue from the fair topped $5,000 in 2011.