Colorado ArtFest at Castle Rock

Just finished load'n up the van for the next show in Wichita this coming weekend so its time for a review. See the short version on ArtShowReviews...Or the last version is at:

http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/colorado-artfest-at-castle-rock

Not much different to say about this year except a few additions. This show has dead zones. On the south side in front of the fence that surrounds the library parking lot there seemed to be nary a visitor. On South Street, which "connects" the two parts of this show, even if you are near the entrance on the east side it seems dead. One artist neighbor from Park City who was doing gang busters there seemed to be taking a nap through most of this show even though he was right next to the entrance! And then there is the North section, again, next to the fence you don't seem to get a lot of visitations, or so I was told by a fellow artist. I've had that spot several times and that was my experience, as-well-as low sales totals, also.

Depending on where you are located in this show you either have abundant back-o-the-booth storage or none at all. Remember those fences I mentioned? If your in the middle of either of the two parking lots you have lots of storage behind with generous between booth space.

Weather...well either it rains and kills the crowd or it is unG_dly hot. It was the latter this year upper mid 90's! Surprisingly though it didn't deter the crowd, people were out there through the hottest part of the day looking and buying. I saw a lot of large items with legs walking out and not just singles but multiple pieces with the same buyers.

Load-In/Out is not bad, this year they had staggered times for the different zones but then later sent me an email asking if I could come in earlier to avoid congestion, why not! Getting out...well there is always the guy that has to be first and there was no exception here. One of my neighbors had his truck in there before anyone else and packed out that way whereas I prefer to pack everything down into a pile first, let the jackrabbits get out, and then I load my van. This time the weather was threatening so I packed everything but the tent, moved the van in, loaded the boxes and then broke the tent down. Good thing too as the rain did come!

As for final sales totals...My booth was near one of the entrances this year so I saw a lot of congestion in my booth...a good thing!...haven't seen that many people in the booth all at once in a LOOOONNNGGG time. Sales for me this year were twice what I made last year. My mid range pieces seemed to sell the best though I did have a few commissions for smaller items as well. Was it the difference in where I was located? Are they just more interested in my work? Are they willing to spend a little more this year? I wont speculate I will just appreciate!

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Comments

  • Congrats Brian on the great sales, lets hope its your work not just your location!

  • Great info, Brian. I hope to do this show next year.

  • Thank you for this review S. Brian.
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