The story
Fourth Avenue Street Fair in Tucson
The Fourth Avenue Street Fair began in 1970 when merchants along Tucson's historic Fourth Avenue set up sidewalk tables to draw holiday shoppers. Held twice a year, in spring and winter, it now ranks among the top 100 street fairs nationally and internationally, drawing more than 350,000 visitors and 350-plus original, handmade-art vendors.
Tucson's Fourth Avenue developed its identity as a commercial district gradually, beginning with the construction of an underpass connecting it to downtown in 1916 and continuing through the 1920s and 1930s as it took on the character of an alternative retail strip even as some businesses drifted toward the suburbs.