One Hot Show

This past weekend Lu and I did the Hottest show that we have done in years. The show had setup on Friday morning with a Preview that night. The people came out and that was a surprize to most of the artist. And again on Saturday they came out again. And on Sunday there were even more people out and about.

The show I am talking about was the Midwest Salute to the Arts in Fairview Heights, IL.

The tempeture was 97 on Friday, 98 on Saturday and 99 on Sunday with the heat index over 105 and 115 on Sunday so you can see what I mean about one HOT show.

Sales reports that we heard were way down with several we know with zero sales. This is usally a good show but the heat put a real damper on the show. We had a hard time believing that people would even come out for the show. the local TV (St. Louis) was advising people to stay in there house or in any air conditioning they could find.

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  • The people who organize this show are the best I've ever seen. The volunteers were excellent. We were in the very last tent and did not have that much traffic. The light traffic was not a reflection on anything the show people could have fixed. It was strictly the heat. The only show we have done where it was hotter was Ann Arbor 2years show. Again, I can't say enough about how well this show was managed. Just a shame it picked this weekend to be hot.
  • That was sort of a freaky change in temps for this summer.  This summer has been one of the coolest I can remember and then, boom, it just turned really hot for a few days and then turned cool again.  I think it was amazing they supplied fans at each artist's tent.   It sounds like there were a lot of people that came.  If they bothered to come in the heat, why weren't they buying?

  • I agree, Charles. Both Friday and Saturday night, I was passed out by 9:00 from heat exhaustion. Sunday, after tear down, we had a 4 1/2 hour drive. Very difficult show. Can't blame the organizers for the heat factor since they and the volunteers suffered just as much as the artists.

  • Received a call about 3:00 Friday afternoon inviting me to come - had been wait listed.  Assume someone decided to back out because of the heat but as I was already set up for a small show, Wildwood art fair, declined.  After spending almost 30 hours outside during this weekend, I wonder how I survived.  Only one sale and almost no potential customers.  Will be tempted to do a last minute bypass if such extreme temperatures occur in the future - do not believe that the health risks make it worthwhile to participate, expecially at my age of 70+.  I have never been so hot and so totally drained in my life.

    Looking forward to the show this weekend at Queeny, it is indoors! 

  • Thanks for the review...sounds horrible, hope you made a few bucks at least.

  • HOT! HOT! HOT! That's "almost" all I can say about this past weekend at Midwest Salute to the Arts in Fairview Heights, IL. After being wait listed for the past 3 years, I FINALLY got into the show! Yaaaaaay! It was by far the hardest show I've ever done with temps near 100 degrees and very few customers who probably spent the weekend at the pool... My hubby and I took turns going to the truck and sitting in the air conditioning to get our body temperature back to normal. OK, enough about the heat.... the show was extremely well organized with giant fans at the corners of each tent and volunteers constantly bringing the artists GIANT glasses of ice water and lemonade. Bless their hearts! I also saw some of the highest quality of art that I've ever seen at a show. (No String and Sell at this here!) My only wish is that they might reconsider their show hours given the severe August temps. The artists already have electricity for lights and fans, so why not have the show start later in the day and go into the evening hours when the heat is more tolerable. Seems like the Friday night preview was much more crowded than the rest of the weekend. Something to think about...

  • And I was hoping it was hot in a good way!

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