This is a fun show to participate in and works nicely into our summer road trip. We've participated in this show 3 times in the last 5 years including last year and we're wondering if this is a show we need to skip every year or two. If we had $1 for every time we had someone walk into our booth and comment on how they love our work and bought XYZ last year or at one of our Spokane,WA shows, we would have made a lot more money. Spokane WA and Coeur d'Alene are only about a 30 minute drive apart, neither are really large communities so we need to think about that in the future.
Overall the show is relatively easy to do. Load in starts at 3 on Thursday, continues Friday morning, show starts at noon on Friday so load in is staggered, you can drive to your booth on the Old Fort Sherman grounds, most of us were able to leave our vehicle parked in front or behind the booth for the entire set up. Load out is a little more chaotic and depending on where your booth is located, can be a bit more challenging to get your vehicle in. Some of the artists brought their vehicles in immediately after the show was done and blocked access for others for most of the load out time period. We were in one of the more congested areas and ended up having to manuever quite a bit to get the truck in and then had a little more challenge trying to leave after we were packed. They do allow RV parking on the North Idaho college campus within very easy walking distance of the show. Booth sitters were available, volunteers were very visible and helpful, they do have coffee and muffins each morning for the artists. One artist we know inujured her eye Sunday morning and the show staff / volunteers took extra care to make sure she was okay and had the help she needed.
There were around 150 booths or so and attendance seemed lower than it had been in previous years and nowhere close to the 50,000 the arts council states. 3 shows occur this weekend, Art on the Green, Taste of CDA and the Street Fair. I heard from others that all the shows seemed to add additional booths this year so the buying dollars were spread a little thinner. We also noticed a remarkable lack of tourists on Friday which is unusual as this is usuually a show that attracts the tourists who are visiting for their summer vacations. Temperatures were reasonable, in the 80's each day. All of the booths get at least a portion of the day in the direct sun and then shade for part of the day. There are a few booths that get the afternoon sun hitting them directly for about 3 hours making the booths unbearably warm, with very slow sales for that period of time.
Friday sales were very slow, barely made booth. On Saturday the tourists showed up and we had a good day, Sunday was a little slower, but overall ended up with an average show. We compared our numbers / sales from previous years and while we had about the same number of sales, our average $ per sale was lower and we didn't have any sales over $150. I heard mixed reports from most of the artists, a few had a great show, a few had a lousy show but overall most said they were doing okay, average, mediocre, etc. We also had quite a few people say they would see us in Sand Point ID this weekend for our next show including one customer who has indicated a strong interest in one our most expensive sets, so we're hoping for nice ending to the Idaho portion of our road trip.
This is a show we'll probably do again, just need to consider if we should take a year off and alter next summer's road trip.
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