Call for Artists, Making Money at Juried Art Fairs, Craft Shows and Festivals
Maryland home and Garden show. state fairground Timonium Md March 6-7
This show takes place the 1st and 2ed weekends in March,2ed being 3 days, also 2 weekends in the fall.There are two separate buildings one for the Arts and Crafts,with a constantly running shuttle bus between the two,but close enough one can walk.
The lay out works well ,with much the much appreciated extra wide lanes to accommodate the large turn out of patrons.The spacing of similar works is addressed very well.Restrooms are convenient,and food is available,although the really good food is located in a wonderful food court in the garden show building.
Jon Plummer the promoter,provides a packet of free tickets ahead of time to the artist ,for mail out to past customers.The advertising for the event is extensive,and it shows,the crowds do come.
Cost is 275 with a better deal if you do both weekends ( I just do one )
That's the facts,now on to the bitchin about part.
There is b/s here,although it was better quality(for lack of another word) Junk.If it has to be, it should be contained in its own section but alas it is not.I had next to me a wonderful painted chair artist whom worker on a piece both days and did sell it right at the close of the show,Across was a brilliant illustrator who seemed to do well,and on my other side was "Hop Sings handcrafted corporation"2 spaces of truck stop crap ( dont have to elaborate do I ) Who appeared to do nothing but annoy the patrons.Nuff said.All of my sales which were sparse came at the end of both days.( Thank God was able to pay all expenses and put milk on the Cheerios )Was my worst show here sales wise of the 3 times I have done this show.Can not blame anyone but myself,the crowd was there ,advertising did its job.( My work just got ugly from the last show I did) Ya think the economy has something to do with it,DUH
Folks I spoke with all said thier sales came at the end ,big ticket items did leave the building in patrons arms.Even a 1st show ever ceramic tile artist hit a few home runs at the end (love seeing that )and the folks that did not do so well were the "1-800 send me more vendors"
I will be back and be here in the fall .The fall show has aways been a better venue for me,If your looking for a well promoted show Jon Plummer of SL productions dose what he says his going to do, and takes the extra miles to accommodate the artist.
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Comment by Michelle Sholund on March 8, 2010 at 9:44am -
I sold at this show last year (spring time) and it was pretty bad - pretty low attendance (I was in the main building selling my By the Bay Botanicals Products (photo of booth is included with this post) and the weather was not cooperative. I went this weekend to support "my fellow" craftsmen, but my main purpose was to get contact info and sign up with companies that do window replacements. This is what I observed...
As a patron. Better variety of crafts (and it was crafts, I'd say about 25% could be classified as fine art). There was a crowd - and I mean it. This was not seen last year - from what I recall - crickets were chirping and nearly all exhibitors were complaining OPENLY - a big no-no in my opinion. WAY TOO MANY POUNCERS!!!! If I am drawn into a booth (or to get a closer look) from the aisle, I get artists instantly going into a 30 second spiel "vomiting" as many facts as they can get out in that amount of time. A HUGE TURN OFF. What happened to waiting until someone wants more information??? Acknowledge me with a smile or quick hi, introduce yourself and make yourself scare - that is what I want and that is what nearly all patrons want too. When I start picking up something or trying to make eye contact to signal I have a question, then sell to me. And I saw just the opposite - I am interested and couldn't get help because no one could look up from their books. The other issue I had was not being acknowledged - its great "you" might have a customer, but at least do a smile and nod that you see me and signal "I'll be right with you". If you ignore me - you lost your sale, because I can't wait forever for you to help me. I cannot tell you how many times people in the craft building were doing all the wrong things when it comes to selling. AND THIS TIME YOU ALL HAD PLENTY OF CUSTOMERS, so the air of desperation should be that thick!!!
From a past exhibitor point of view. All in all I thought all people were very nice with more space to walk around and a lot more patrons. I thought the promoters were always accommodating and very helpful - saw this when I visited this past weekend. I liked seeing newer faces - seeing the same ol vendors makes a show seem stale. I liked the illustrator, if you were referring to the art that was more geared towards kids rooms. I also liked the photography - from 3 different exhibitors, a quilter that did everything from throws to purses, and one or two jewelry artists. I didn't buy from anyone, I was not there to buy - not that I wasn't tempted, but it was to get info for windows. I want to stress to those who choose, or thinking about, doing home and garden shows (this one or others) you MUST have a product that is a perfect fit for the home and garden environment. Also, there are people who go to home and garden shows and it isn't their intention to buy anything - mostly to window shop, no pun intended - and see what there is to see, possibly picking up a flier or whatever. I was amazed how many exhibitors didn't have business cards, brochures or even something free (like a free sample) to give out to passersby. You want people to remember you and one of the most memorable vendors was a fence person who gave samples of their deer fencing. Sounds crazy but it got me as I wasn't thinking about fencing until I saw the exhibitor and was able to take something with me, so when I am done doing windows we can work on the deer issue I have starting with the deer fence guy.
Sorry for the long comment, but if you do home and garden shows - and any shows for that matter and not sure about them - GO TO THEM, talk to past exhibitors and really learn all you can about them - they are expensive (for me they are) and they are long hours - you better make sure you can get a return on your investment plus all the time you devote to setting up and staying there for the long hours. Lastly, it is neat to see someone here, from this site, that was in my neck of the woods! I urge you to check out my 40 Questions blog series - posted here (in the blog section) and on my personal blog if you want to get some tips about doing shows - picking the right ones, selling techniques (to build on what you are doing already), and so on. Listen to me, I will save you money and help you earn more at the same time!!!
Michelle
By the Bay Botanicals
www.bythebaybotanicals.com
www.quickcraftartisttips.blogspot.com
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