The Art League will be having their 37th Annual Patron's Show, and tickets go on sale on January 15.

If you don't know what the Patron's Show is, then let me tell you.

If you are crazy enough to be hanging around Old Town Alexandria about 4 in the morning on January 17 you will notice people forming a long line in the cold outside the Torpedo Factory. They will be waiting for a chance to get original art for their collections - or even starting a collection.

"A line for art?" you must be asking, "who is crazy enough to freeze lining up at Oh-dark-thirty just to buy artwork?"

Hundreds!

They will be lining up for one of the great art deals of the year: the 37th Annual Patron's Show. It's very simple: artists donate original artwork to the Art League, who inspects it, selects it and often frames it.

It is generally good art to suit all tastes, ranging from huge abstracts to delicate pencil drawings. Usually about 600 pieces are donated and hung, salon style in the Art League's gallery on the first floor of the Factory.

Then raffle tickets go up for sale at 10 am on the 17th, and they usually disappear and are sold out within an hour or two, and each ticket is guaranteed a work of art.

The drawing is on Sunday, February 15, and about 1500 people crowd into the main floor of the Torpedo Factory. They bring picnic baskets, wine, beer and all kinds of foods and goodies. It's a really cool time, a unique art scene in the area - far more popular and vociferous than some of the more stuffy art raffles held at other places.

On Sunday, February 15, the tickets are drawn at random, and as they are called, ticket-holders select a piece of art from the work on display on the walls and take it with them. It is without a doubt, the most sought after art ticket in town, and often incredible acquisitions are made. If you are a budding collector, don't miss it!