Bethesda Row Arts Festival Review, October 14-15

Just got back from the Bethesda Row Arts Festival in - you guessed it - Bethesda MD.  I looked all over this site beforehand for a good review of this show and couldn't find anything, so I'll try to fill in some holes for anyone else looking to do the show.  This was my first time here.  I heard the same folks put on another spring show here is Bethesda, but this review is specifically for the Bethesda ROW show in October.  I can't speak to the spring show at all.

I guess due to construction around the show site, there was a new load in plan this year and a new load out plan, so I don't know how most years go, but considering the tiny little space we are all cramming into and the busy metropolis we are in, load in went incredibly smoothly.  We were each given a load in time between 4a-7a (3:30-4a was a free load in time).  My load in time was at 5am, but on the way to Maryland from Ohio the night before, my truck had broke down 45 miles away.  After being held hostage by a mechanic for several hours, we managed to get the truck at least moveable and made it to Bethesda and parked in Waverly garage across from the Hyatt Regency where we were staying around 11pm.  The hotel had an artist rate and was just 3 blocks from the show.  If you do the show, I highly recommend it.  Parking there is $20 a night though, and right across the street there is FREE parking after 7p on Friday and through the weekend, so duh, park there...  ANYWAY... after all that drama with the truck I was afraid that it wouldn't start in the morning or it would break down on the site, so we decided to go in at the 3:30 load in time (hooray for 3 hours of sleep!).  Fortunately it did start.  We drove right up to our booth, unloaded everything on the sidewalk, moved the truck to the garage right off Bethesda/Woodmont (which is also free on weekends) and came back to set up.  There are tons of free parking garages around and an open lot for oversized vehicles about a 10 minute walk away.

The show is held on Elm and Bethesda (parallel to each other) and Woodmont (connects the two).  I didn't walk the show, but I saw on the booth map that there is a spur off Woodmont that I doubt I would want to be on.  I think other than that spur, the booths would get even traffic.  My booth was in the shade of very tall buildings and trees 100% of the time.  Next year I'd bring lights and my marine battery.  Not sure if Woodmont got better light.

After setup, we had plenty of time, so we walked back to the hotel, took showers and got cleaned up.  I love being within easy walking distance to the show! 

The show is well run.  Each street has a block captain if you need anything.  Seth was very sweet and helpful.  There is a nice artist hospitality building with bagels, fruit, nuts, snack bars, water, and coffee.  There are nice awards if you're one of the lucky ones.  I never had anyone come around offering to booth sit, but I had a helper with me so it didn't matter.

The booth layout is TIGHT!!!  Think 1" on each side and back to back to spare.  You are completely sandwiched in there, and there is not any space at all behind you for storage.  Depending on where you are, there might be some sidewalk room across from your booth, but I doubt many of the businesses would appreciate having their doorways used as storage.  I just moved my propanels in and made storage inside my booth.  It is something to take into consideration though.  When they say no storage room, they mean it!

So as for the show stats, this was sort of a perplexing one for me.  I had decided that with expenses factored, I needed to do a minimum of $3K to even potentially consider doing again, and then I had a personal goal for the show.  Plus who knows who much my truck will cost to get repaired - so that's looming over my head too.  Saturday is by far usually my best day.  I sat there all day Saturday and only sold prints and one $800 painting.  Didn't even make half what I needed.  Oh, and the weather is great too.  Lots of bags for the cupcake place nearby and Williams Sonoma going by, but no art bags.  Starting to get discouraged, but I was told by a few artists that Sunday is their best day here.  Alexandria is nearby, and both years I've done it, Sunday was better, so I was holding out hope. 

Sunday comes.  We open at 10.  I sit there until 2:30 and have only made $80!  I'm really getting discouraged now.  And then suddenly, a wave of people come in buying $500 painting after $500 painting and placing custom orders for even more.  The show closes at 5.  In that 2.5 hour time period, I went from less than $1500 to over $5000.  That's how this business rolls.... ended up selling 6 paintings in that 2.5 hour window.  So now I'm a happy camper.  Confused as to how I actually ended up with money in my pocket.... but happy nonetheless!

Load out was sort of hairy.  It seems from the after-show email that they had to do load out different than normal, but that this structure will continue for 2-3 years while construction is done to the area.  I don't know what its normally like, but this year you had to completely break down and move everything onto the sidewalk.  Easy peasy - done in less than an hour.  Then you had to find your block captain and they inspect your space and give you a load out pass.  My captain looked and approved, but then we had to wait for the load out pass. Everyone is so crammed in there that even if you are cleared and good to go, you have to wait for any cars who have come in before you to move out before being given an actual pass to get your vehicle.  So waited and waited.  Finally got my pass and miraculously my truck started!  By the time I got out of the parking garage though, I had to wait in a line of a bunch of other artists who had got their passes too.  More waiting and waiting and waiting while my truck threatened to break down right in the intersection of Bethesda and Woodmont.  Finally got in, and loaded everything up in about 10 minutes.  But THEN two other vehicles had blocked me in, so again had to wait and wait and wait until they moved out of the way.  Once we finally got out, it had been an hour of breaking down and an hour of waiting to get in/get out.  Could have been worse.  Next year I'll just go get dinner at one of the gazillion restaurants nearby and then come back after 6:30 when some of the booths have cleared out already.

In case you're wondering how the truck saga ended, with 4 cylinders misfiring, I wasn't about to travel 7 hours through the mountains back home to Ohio.  So my husband had left Ohio in the morning with a tow truck, met us 15 miles outside of Bethesda, and towed us back home.  Poor guy spent 17 hours in the car that day.  We ended up getting home at 5:15am and my 3 year old woke up at 7:30.  Hooray for 2 more hours of sleep!  Its an adventurous life we lead. 

So to wrap up, yes, I think I'd definitely do the show again.  I love that everything is right there.  Makes logistics nice.  Sales ended up being real good, despite what it seemed it would be just 2 hours prior to the show end.  Just goes to show that you can't give up hope.  Although its always nice when you sell a lot at the beginning of the day Saturday and can just rest easy.  OH!  One thing though, practically EVERYONE wanted a discount.  One guy pressed so hard for a 33% discount I almost refused to sell him a painting even at full price, and I've never got that way with a patron, but eventually you cross a rude line there's no returning from.  Someone even asked if I'd do a discount on a $30 print.  Really?!  Mark your stuff up if you must so people feel they are getting a deal.  It is the end of my show season now, so I'd actually already marked things down, so I was feeling a bit robbed.  I'll normally negotiate 5-10% but people were really asking for huge amounts off. 

In the end, all my neighbors ended up doing well.  None of us started off Sunday that way though.  So I'm glad Sunday came through for everyone, and I hope to be able to do the show again in 2018.

Hopefully I didn't forget anything.  I'm seriously sleep deprived and wine infused at this point, and dealt with 3 hours of a toddler's temper tantrums today, so if there's anything you want to know about the show, let me know and I'll respond back. 

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Comments

  • You are just getting old and cranky, Barry. Sometimes you have to do the tough stuff too to stay in this biz. We did this show in Bethesda too, many years ago. Same tough setup, early hours, long teardown. Yep, sometimes in these busy city shows you just can't have it the easy way, but hopefully the payoff will be good, or you just won't come back the next year. But in this particular locale you can't deny the potential of affluent, well educated patrons spending the weekend in their own neighborhood and having the opportunity to finding some fine original art. 

    (on that note, I believe you know I am moving, and my beautiful pot of yours got its own box in the moving procession, to make sure it arrived pristine.)

  • Very complete and comprehensive critique, Britt, thanks so much for all the detailed information. Glad that you did well and plan to return next year...

  • HI Bill - 

    The show I did wasn't the same one you mention - the one I did was down the street, probably in Chevy Chase (on 355) There were  a ton of first-time vendors there and we all quickly realized why - it was our first AND last time there. I'm glad to hear you did well!

  • Thanks Bill. I thought the spring show was supposed to be pretty good too. All the other artists around me said they've done the spring show for years and love it.
  • Don't want to hijack Britt's great review but Kelly mentioned the spring Bethesda show and said "NOBODY did well".  I have to disagree.  On our block (Auburn) there were many very happy artists including a a painter who sold all of her originals to one customer and is now a show legend! Bethesda Fine Arts is always one of our best shows (2d abstract digital on aluminum).  We have been on the waitlist for Bethesda Row for 5 years and are still waiting for the call.  This can be a great area if you have the right work.

  • Thanks for the info.

  • I did not think the crowds were super large. Decent sized, it was never slow, but it didn't feel like most of the people came out for the art. It's a trendy area with lots of shops like Lululemon and Teriyaki Ice Cream. Lots of people come for those shops.
    My work is figurative representational. If you give ArtFairSourcebook any credence, they say that abstract does best here so I was concerned about that. But like i said, only the last 2.5 hours did I really do well. I thought I was going to bomb until then.
    Seemed people from all ages and demographics were out. Young couples are my target demo.
    All my neighbors pulled out a good show they said. One was a wood furniture maker. One was a jeweler. But I only got to hear from the people around me. Maybe someone else who did the show will chime in with their thoughts.
  • Nice review, Britt, thank you, glad that it turned out well for you.

    I applied about 3 yrs ago, got waitlisted. Did another quality show in the DC area but did not do well.

    So, a question for anyone- did you feel that the crowds were large? What were the ages of the people visiting the show? Do you think that traditional or modern work was the better seller?

    At the show where I did not do well, I felt perhaps the crowd may have been too young and trendy for me. Thanks.

  • Agreed. Morning of setups SUCK
  • I got into both shows. Chose Philly. There are things about both shows that I don't like. I want a full day to set up and no traffic.

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