Salt Fork Festival, Cambridge OH, August 12-14, 2016.
Cambridge Ohio is quite a distance for a show for me. I try to stay within about 8-9 hours of home. This one was a little further, but I was able to break up the drive by staying with my father-in-law north of Cincinnati for the night.
This show made me feel like I had been "Zapped," if you know what I mean. It advertised a three-day show, juried art show, with lots of artist amenities. There were nice artist amenities. Snacks, water, booth sitters all in easy reach, artist party Friday night, awards breakfast Sunday morning. Not sure about the "Juried" part though -- it was more of a craft show. There were quite a few talented artists in residence, but the $5 sign-on-a-stick, soap and smiling pillows were frequent. The crowds were unfortunately not frequent.
I set up for setup at the show Friday morning, the last on a row. Once I finished my flurry of set up, I had a chance to walk around a bit. That was when I realized that there were about 12 empty spaces between me, my neighbor and anyone else. Apparently they moved to other spots or didn't show at all. I was watching people come to the end of the line, look and see that here was so much space between booths, and turn around and go back the way they had come. Me and my neighboring booth decided to move to a "better" spot. So another breakdown and setup, but at least the show coordinator was accommodating to us about the move.
The crowds just weren't there. Had I done some research I would have known more about the demographics of the area, and that this was a "rebuilding" year for the show. The threat of bad weather didn't help, but we did dodge the bullet threat of bad weather on Friday and Saturday.
Saturday was decent sales-wise, but nowhere near where I should be. My former neighbor apparently had a dismal day and packed out on Saturday night. Sunday was a one-sale day and the monsoon hit with a vengeance. The bins below my tables were actually floating. At that point myself and most everyone else called it quits and started packing out in the pouring rain.
Bright side, my hotel was nice, I met some really amazing artists among the group, got home safely and woke up in my own bed.
Comments
Sorry you were woefully misled by the less-than-perfect show promotion system, Joel.
The fault lies not with you but with the organizers who misrepresent their shows and with Zapp for letting them get away with it.
Nothing you described translates into "juried art show", except maybe the artist party, which means the organizers misrepresented their show in order to get more artists in. They forgot that artists invest their money based on show descriptions. An artist at a predominantly craft show will snazz up the show for the organizers but return very little for the artist because the attending crowd is there for the craft show. And when they let 10 booths move while leaving the last two uninformed and essentially out of the show, that shouts "craft show seat-of-the-pants organization" to me.
You wanna have a craft show? Great! Fill it up with crafts and invite craft-lovers and you'll have great success. Just don't have a craft show and call it an art show...it confuses the crowd and makes for a lot of disappointed artists.
P.S. This same thing happened to me a couple of months ago. Can you tell I'm still feelin' the burn?
OOOH, I hate when that happens. There is a certain amount of satisfaction in getting loaded up, even in the rain, and getting home to your own bed. Sorry that it didn't go very well, but thanks for the review. It will help others.
We were there as well, and I agree with everything you said. We did move as well off the 45 degree HILL. I don't understand why they think we can set up on that crazy hill. We had such a bad show we starting pack at about noon on Sunday. Luckily we had amazing timing and just as we closed the doors to the truck the downpour started! Sorry you go stuck in it! A few years ago the show was OK, but it's fore sure dying a slow and painful death. You're right, when you see "Country Christmas Mouse" you know you're in the wrong show. Lesson Learned!
Nice recap, Joel, sounds like a lesson learned...glad you were able to put a positive spin on it. Thanks and better luck at your next venue.
Nice recap, Joel...sounds like a lesson learned for you, glad you were able to put a positive spin on things, thanks and better luck at your next venue.
Joel, you found a lot of positives even though the show just wasn't a good fit for you. I hope you can find a better show to plug in this one's spot.
Thanks for sharing your review with us.
Personally, I would not touch this show with a ten foot pole.
It is very crafty.