"Lots of people think of us as the art fair you can drink at," explains Shadow Art Fair organizer Tim Furstnau. "So now we have the shuttle bus you can drink on, too." That's right: just when you thought the twice-annual art celebration held at Ypsilanti's Corner Brewery couldn't get any cooler — I mean, their slogan is "One day, 40 artists, 9,000 gallons of beer" for pete's sake — they go and add a veggie-oil-fueled party bus to the mix.

And it happened in the marvelously organic, community-partnership way that's been the Michigan Design Militia's trademark since they launched this all-local alternative to the Ann Arbor Art Fairs in 2006.

It happened that Dreamland Theater won this summer's Shadow Arts Grant, money raised from the fair's 2-cent admission fee and the sale of Corner Brewery's one-day-only Shadow Brew beer, and were asked to present the project funded with it at the winter fair. But there was a sticking point: The brewery — which often fills right up to capacity with artists, shoppers, drinkers, musicians and assorted onlookers — didn't have enough space to put on Dreamland's "History of Ypsilanti" puppet show. Wouldn't it be great, then, if there was some way to get folks from Norris Street over to Dreamland Theater's North Washington location for a couple of shows?

BTB Party Bus turned out to be the perfect solution. Owned by the same folks who own BTB Burrito, BTB Cantina and Good Time Charley's, they put the 80 gallons or so of vegetable oil that fries our delicious snacks every week to use powering late-night transportation around town. And, for two three-hour windows around the 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows, tooling around Ypsilanti hauling artgoers from one venue to the other.

It's not the only display of green transportation going on that day, either — you can also use your own two feet. A local citizen known only as commenter Andy Ypsilanti on organizer Mark Maynard's blog will be leading a walking tour of the Ypsilanti section of Washtenaw County's Border-to-Border trail. So if a good hike is what gets you truly primed for art, history and beer, arrive by 12:30 p.m. to join them.

But enough about all the pleasant ways to leave the fair. What's actually going to be in there? Organizer Jennifer Albaum lights up as she ticks them off. "Well, there are going to be remote-controlled primates from the jungles of Ypsilanti. And hats made out of tin foil to protect you from electromagnetic radiation. Oh, and knives — art knives. Metallurgic cutlery, I think. And the mushroom sculptures outside, and a metal anatomically correct heart, and...oh, don't forget about the bicycle-powered movie! And also, prints, paintings, cards...more traditional art." (What, not specific enough? You can see a list of vendors here.)

I'm not sure if cake qualifies as "more traditional art" or not; that might depend on how close it's sitting to the remote-controlled primates. But cake there will be from Sweet Heather Anne, who's headed to her second SAF on Saturday. "It's actually the hardest thing I do," she laughs. "Usually I have an order and a client to work with and I know where I'm going, but it's difficult to just make a bunch of cakes with no one in mind." An art school graduate whose thesis was cake sculptures (seriously, check out that link), she plans to make 20 or so full-size pastries for the fair, as well as selling some slices for those who'd really rather just have a delicious snack than cart home the whole thing.

I'm thinking 5:45 p.m. would be an excellent time to get your piece of cake, just in time to pair it with the 6 o'clock release of the Shadow Brew. Actually, this year there are two "twin beers," points out brewer Ryan Groendyk. The twin quality has something to do with the hops, a process I won't abuse here by trying to explain it with my lay person's understanding of the brewing process, but his descriptions of the finished products lead me to believe that the pair is definitely of the fraternal variety: one batch will have hints of dark chocolate, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry and acai, while the other sports flavors of clementine, pomegranite, molasses, agave, tamarind and almond. Your timing has to be pretty darn good to get a glass, though, because the small batches often sell out before the minute hand has made a complete revolution around the clock.

The Shadow Art Fair runs from noon to midnight this Saturday, December 5, at the Corner Brewery, 720 Norris Street in Ypsilanti. Admission is two cents.

Leah DuMouchel is a free-lance writer for AnnArbor.com.