After the pandemic put the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber’s annual Village Fair in downtown Birmingham on a two-year hiatus, it returned in 2022 to surpass attendance records with record crowds on all four days.

The 58th annual fair will be back on the streets surrounding Shain Park in downtown Birmingham June 1-4.

For the Chamber and its nonprofit partners, the joy of the fair resonates throughout the year.

“Not only is the Village Fair the Chamber’s biggest fundraiser of the year, but we have something that’s called our Nonprofit Partners Group,” said Joe Bauman, president of the Birmingham-Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce. “We have about 50 local nonprofit and charitable organizations that are part of our network, and we allow them to apply for grants to share the proceeds of the fair.

“We’ve given a total of almost $100,000 to local nonprofits in the past five years alone to help spread the word about the great work they’re doing in the community,” Bauman said.

The partnership represents a commitment to the type of smaller, grassroots nonprofits that help make the Birmingham-Bloomfield community great. The groups include the Birmingham Family YMCA, Birmingham Youth Assistance, Birmingham Rotary Club and the Birmingham Bloomfield Community Coalition.

 “Our member businesses feel like it’s important to demonstrate leadership by giving back to the organizations that are doing good work in our community,” Bauman said.

Tucked into the neighborhood around Shain Park, he said the fair is a family-friendly community carnival, almost a well-kept secret for residents and a tradition in downtown Birmingham.

For more information about the Chamber and its events, visit www.bbcc.com.

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