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General

     Nuts and bolts for this show can be found under artshowreviews.com by clicking the above link and going to Colorado Shows.  There is more demographic information on Estes Park there in other reviews and blogs for previous years.  We did this 3-day show for three years from 2008 to 2011.  Our sales then hovered around $2K which is my minimum for a 2-day event, so we decided to give it a rest.  We went back this year to support the town of Estes Park which is still recovering from the September 2013 flood.

     The weather in Estes park at the May shows as well as the Labor Day September shows can be unpredictable.  I can handle the afternoon thunderstorms which are typical mountain weather.  High winds (40-60 mph) have closed both shows in the past.  It can also snow.

     Access to Estes Park from I-25 north of Denver is by US36 through Lyons or US34 through Loveland, CO.  We went up on US34 through Big Thompson Canyon.  There were no construction delays, but still some work going on.  We went home on US36 and we had two 30 minute waits in Muggins Gulch, just north of Pinewood Springs and another north of Lyons.  There is drilling and blasting to move the road back farther into the mountainside and raise the road bed higher.  All of this is scheduled to be completed by July, 2014.  In the town of Estes Park there was little evidence of the flooding other than some collapsed retaining walls and merchants sandbagging their doorways Sunday night after afternoon rains raised the Big Thompson River 18”. There is a lot of concern about the spring runoff as there were heavy snowfalls in May on top of a deep winter snow pack.

Set Up

Set up officially started on Friday at 10:00am, but personnel were there to check you in as early as 9:30am. Traffic to unload is well controlled and you dolly your stuff from parking along Elkhorn Avenue or Park Lane.  At most, you have to dolly about 1/2 block. Booths are arranged around the perimeter of Bond park or in rows in the town hall parking lot which is brick paved.  Artists were supposed to park at the fairgrounds and take a shuttle back to the show.

The Show Days

     The show ran from 9:00 am to 5:00pm Saturday and Sunday, and 9:00 am to 4:00pm on Monday. The crowds were good as usual with a lot of domestic and foreign tourists. I noticed a lot of people from India and the Far East, but couldn’t tell if they were Chinese or Japanese.  Most of my buyers were Anglos or Hispanic.  My sales were a little over $1K Saturday, a little less than $2K on Sunday and a little less than $1K on Monday. Saturday and Sunday were record breaker 1-day sales at Estes for us.  My average sale was $72 and the most popular item was belts, but I also sold a mix of canteens, gun leathers, bill folds, and dog tack.

     I saw some large packages of glass and wood art going out. A painter across from me sold a large 4’x4’ landscape. The potter next to me did “well”. Other returning artists I know also had good sales, but others said sales were “slow”. There was a good mix of mediums. Kevin Frosch and I had questions about an exhibitor who was sewing together shawls made in China (still had the made in China labels attached) that were sold as some sort of poncho.  They said they were hand sewn, but on close inspection it looked like unskilled, rough machine stitching to me, but I couldn’t pull any stitches out to be sure. This was the only questionable booth in the show that I saw.  The rest were all original work.

Weather

     Saturday was pleasantly cool and overcast, but there were a few sprinkles. Sunday, starting around 11:00am, there were rain showers mixed with hail that lasted about 20 minutes of every hour until 5:00pm, but this did not dampen my sales. In Fact it was our best day and a record breaker. Monday there were a couple sprinkles that didn't amount to much.

Take Down

     Take down was well managed. You were not allowed to bring your vehicle into the parking areas until you were ready to load up. After most of the crowd had left you could drive to your booth to load, but not to park there forever. 

Management

     The show was well managed and it is an annual event in Estes Park that is known among the locals.  I saw an ad on Facebook.  There were booth sitters, complimentary morning coffee and all-day water.  There was a silent auction and art activities for kids.  If you completed the show exit survey, there was a drawing for $100 off next year’s booth fee.  There was a depression between my booth and neighbor’s where water collected during the Sunday afternoon storms.  They sandbagged a gutter and sent out the “Broom Squad” to help with the problem.  There was no damage, only some wet table skirts.

Miscellaneous (Fun Stuff)

     We always rent a summer home in Estes and this one, although modern, was built in 1911. It was 1/2 mile up the hill from the show, so we didn't have to park at the fairgrounds. When we arrived, there were five cow elk in the yard and they were there to greet me most mornings when I went to work. Jean wouldn't let me grill our elk burgers outside out of respect for the “Girls”. The hot tub was relaxing after a day on the street. We didn't go for a hike Tuesday morning as we usually do.  We were both tired and wanted to get home and see the dogs. We stopped in Lyons for coffee and bought some wine at a winery to “spread the wealth”. The owner had a lodge up stream that was totally wiped out in the flood. Some pictures of the show were posted over the weekend.