In Ringelstetter’s experience the Ann Arbor Art Show can be a fierce entity all on its own. This show spans four days and accepts 1,200 artists, making for a lot of competition. However, in 2019 the Ann Arbor show proved itself to be an untamable beast when a wild storm hit hours before its projected arrival time, causing chaos amongst the artists when they and all of the patrons received a jarring weather warning on their phones, instructing everyone to evacuate the area and seek shelter
within the following 15 minutes.
Ringelstetter adhered the advisory and began packing up his booth as quickly as he could manage. When he was finished he rushed through the show and helped everyone he could, but the storm hit quickly. 60 mile and hour winds caused the unsecured tents to fly away. Ringelstetter began filming the events because he wanted to show what artists go through while trying to pursue their dreams. He had no idea that the video would go viral.
Thanks to his iconic pink hair, Ringelstetter was recognized from the video frequently, and went on to make new friends because of it, giving the traumatic events a positive outcome.
Darienne Keniece