Arlington And Fairfax VA

I am In the middle of the spring marathon of shows. First marathon for me so as already stated my reviews are a bit shorter and pics not included. Just completed two HAE shows in the DC area. Arlington and Fairfax. I have reviewed Arlington a few times already so if you want more info search here on AFI. Fairfax was a first time event for HAE.

Love love the DC area for sales. Have done Arlington as a single show traveling from Atlanta and well worth it. Was excited to have another show in the area to pair up this time. Both are Saturday morning set ups and both are very easy set ups. What a treat. Both shows are about 125 artists both of the areas have $$$. Both shows had amazing work at the shows. For relatively new shows the communities are lucky to have such amazing work to experience. Both shows are extremely well run. Thank you HAE. You make our life easier.

Arlington (as posted above do a search to find out more info where the show is located) is a Saturday morning set up. The street I am located on is wide. We showed up around 6:30-7 am. Drove up right to the booth. Unloaded and parked in the parking garage (we need 7'2" clearance for our truck) costs $4 a day. There is artists parking but for $4 we have our vehicle right near our booth. The weather was perfect both days. In the 70s. If you were on Washington you were in the sun and warm. If you were on Highlands you had lots of shade and needed a jacket. All was good. The crowds were good. Lots of interest and savvy art buyers. As other artists noticed this show now gets patrons from other parts of DC besides Arlington. It is getting a strong following. This show has been very strong for many of us that have done the show a few times.

I have said in the past I believed this show was a strong contemporary show BUT a good artist friend of mine who does traditional small ink drawings tried the show. When she told me she was going to be there I was a bit worried for her. She killed it!!! One of her best shows. Many artists said they had done better this year than in the past. We had a good show but not as great.

It was wonderful to be around for the week in between the two shows because we were able to do some home visits and close some sales. Making Arlington another great show. If we would have gone straight home to Atlanta it would have been ok. We lined up a couple commissions right from the show. The extra sales in the middle of the week was a bonus.

Load out easy peasy. We had always dollied out but that was dumb. By the time we were walking out our last dolly they were letting vehicles in. This year we took it a little slower and waited about 5 minutes more to bring the truck in. We were off 1.15 minutes after the show closed and we're feeling good.

Fairfax. I will try to give a bit more info but for those who were there please contribute. This show is on the streets in a higher end out door mall. Lots of resteraunts. Very pretty. Suburban area. Suburbia is not my usual market. Went the day before set up on Friday to scope it out. This set up looked easy. In my area there was a parking area behind my booth. We showed up around 7am. You could pull into the Main Street to unload but were able to park right behind my booth and stay put until done. Set up the entire double booth in 1.5 hours. That is when it started raining. Parking was not too far for artists. I have my Fitbit so no issue for me and really it was close parking.

Probably Because of the rain on Satirday morning the crowds were not huge. The rain stopped I think about 11 amish. It was a nice day. I saw others making some smaller sales. Originals only large scale for me and didn't have much interest on Saturday. I chalked it up to being a suburban show. This was not my market. Sunday perfect day. Decent crowds. Nothing for me until around 3pm. The show seemed to change and we had lots of interest. This show worked out with folks shopping as we loaded out. We will be in Reston in a few weeks and will be bringing closed sales.

Load out was perfection for us. We got our vehicle behind the booth at end of show and were out in 45 minutes. Would have been 20 minutes if we weren't talking to patrons.

These two shows together were physically easy to do. Since this is my first art fair marathon I was worried about our lineup of shows. Somethings we did to make this easy peasy for us. We rented a house in Vienna. The town is pretty much in the middle of the two shows, about 7-8 miles from each. Only cost $69 a night, cheap for DC and I was able to bring meals with us. I love to splurge on fancy resteraunts but after a show I just want to go "home" and have a healthy meal. The town we stayed in was on the metro line and the bike path that covers 60+ miles of the DC area. As an artist DC is an amazing area to explore. Most museums are free. Love the "vacation" we can have between shows.

I normally am willing to pay extra to stay close to a show especially if they have a Saturday morning set up. Didn't do that this time. I was comfortable with Arlington and knew we didn't need to stay close. Fairfax I was not so sure.

Here is where my spoiled self comes out. My only real issue with Saturday morning set ups is feeling grungy after set up and working all day and talking to patrons, whatever if I am tired. I have been tired many times. Since we didn't stay on site for Fairfax, after setting up I went to a salon near my booth and had them wash and blow out my hair. Cost me $20 and I had a wonderful salon to freshen up. Made all the difference for my spoiled ass. For future shows with Saturday setups I will be looking into this option versus spending extra $$$ for a hotel on site.

Next two shows in town for me. Another two Saturday morning set ups that won't be as easy:(:(:(:(.

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Comments

  • Love reading your reviews, Melanie, it's sort of like having the experience myself.  I love your beauty parlor idea and Airbnb...great tips!

  • Thanks for the great review Melanie.  I love that area of the country.  I hope I can make it there sometime.

  • Connie I love Airbnb. Always book entire home, not a couch or a room bit entire space. Usually cheaper than a hotel, at least the type of hotel I am willing to stay in. In my past life I must have been a travel agent because I find excellent places to stay both hotels and vacation rentals along the road:). It takes research and time but it is fun for me to find the right place in the right location with the best price
  • Great reviews, Melanie. The demographics of this area are just made for decent sales. I really like that the shows are so small. Hope they stay that way.

    I think Fairfax is the #2 highest per capita earning county in the country. Lots of promise there for sure.

    Love your house rental idea. Where did you find this place? How? 

    AND your beauty option day of the show! Yep, a little pampering is important for a girl.

    I always loved staying over between shows for the chance to learn about other areas of the country and have a "vacation." Plus you  made house calls ... looking forward to hearing if you close those sales at Reston.

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