Magic City Art Connection

Last weekend we did the Magic City Art Connection which is held in Linn Park, Birmingham, Al.  First of all, Birmingham is our adopted home town.  We have lived in the area for 10 years and have attended to show in the past but this was our first year showing our work. Birmingham acquired the nick name "Magic City", not due to an over abundance of budding David Copperfield wannabes, but because of the rapid growth of the steel industry shortly after the civil war. The show was magic for us.

The venue is an urban park that encompasses a city block.  There are intersecting sidewalks leading to a fountain plaza in the center.  Large, mature trees shade most of the area. A contingent of homeless folks use the park as their home.  They were not particularly pleased to be evicted for the weekend. Last year, three days before the event, the city decided to charge for security which led to having to enclose the park and charge a $5.00 admission fee. With the fence in place the homeless were forced to set up on some benches near the porta potties near the main entrance.  Our booth was on a sidewalk at one end of the show.  We were thankful for the shade.  But the lack of light meant no grass which in turn produced massive amounts of dust.  Next year we will try to pay extra for a spot on the fountain plaza.

Communication before the event was very good.  Load in times were staggered. When we arrived there was ample parking near our spot with a very short dolly distance, all on cement. This is a Friday, Saturday, Sunday show with Thursday set up.  We dodged the rain on Thursday and had everything under cover before the rain started.

Friday started off very well for us.  By 2pm when a passing shower cleared out the crowd, we had the best sales day we have had.  We had two customers that made big purchases with several smaller purchases in between. One of our homeless friends managed to breach perimeter security and asked us for some money to help pay for his new baby's Pampers.  We were skeptical since he was a least 70. Friday night there was an awards presentation followed by a dinner.  We can say the wine served was very good but we could not stay for dinner as we had to go home and print and mat to replace what we had sold, certainly a good problem to have.

Saturday's weather was perfect and the crowds came out to buy.  We doubled our sales from Friday. We were busy all day and barely had time to get something to eat.  I saw a lot of packages going by both big and small.  Our neighbors were metal (mostly yard art but very well done), a print maker, and an abstract painter. All reported very good sales.  We also saw a lot of wood pieces going by and a very wide mix of styles and presentations in 2D art. Again we went home to print and mat.

Sunday was the slowest day.  We still had a very good day. The weather was perfect in the shade but warm in the sun.  There we a lot of people walking by with sweat stained shirts.  

Load out was very well organized and uneventful.  Once taxes were paid we were given a small gray ticket.  When we were completely broken down and ready to load, a volunteer traded the gray ticket for an orange pass to bring in our vehicle.  Again, there was ample close parking.

As far as amenities go, there was water and some breakfast items in the morning, but no one drove around with water etc.  I did not have time to check with anyone about the dinner Friday night but it was a nice thank you to the artists.  I wish we could have stayed for it.  On Saturday and Sunday on one of the perimeter streets there is a fundraiser called Corks and Chefs where 9 of our best restaurants serve small plates of their dishes with wine and beer. There is an admission charge of something like $40.00.  Someone who liked our work gave us two tickets on Sunday.  So we enjoyed some food from our favorite restaurants with some very good wine under a shade tree near our booth.  Since there are two of us we can take turns.   

This was the 33rd year for this show.  It was very well organized, with a dedicated director, Eileen Kunzman, her staff, and a cadre of experienced volunteers. It was by far our best sales show so far. So thanks to the Magic City for a confidence boost and a financial shot in the arm. Hopefully this momentum will carry over to Huntsville next weekend.   

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  • Very nice, so glad you had a great show.  It sort of seems to me from recent reports that things seem to be looking up at shows.  I hope that is a trend that keeps on improving. 

    Thanks for your review.  In fact, we only have one review for this show at Art Show Reviews if I could get you to submit one there.  It certainly won't be as much writing as you did here:

    http://www.artshowreviews.com/review-an-art-fair.html

    We would appreciate it!

  • This is usually one of my best shows of the year, but this year sales were way down! I would love to blame the location of my booth. People just didn't want to leave the sidewalk!

  • Terrific report, Craig and Sara...love reading a positive show critique and this one has it 'going on'.  Thanks and best of luck in Huntsville!

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