We did the show, having remembered it from it's old location and it used to be so good, it really was the "gold coast"... New location at Grant park is gorgeous, a lot of room and nicely laid out but they seemed off their game from what I remembered helping my friend Sandy years ago..
Most of the patrons were drinking booze and pushing kids in strollers, definitely a tourist crowd ,had loads of them asking if I had anything for $15- $25...
The old location was nice, right near Old Town area... wealthy patrons.
They had a production glass studio there, they had literally hundreds of pieces in dozens of huge bins, all stacked in back of their tent and our tent and behind the guy next to him....every time they'd sell a certain piece, they'd pull out another one exactly like it and hang it up to fill the space..and they won an award for best glass artist...
Best of show went to someone who prints "paintings" on canvas, in three or more sizes of same image...
What is happening to these shows? They used to be good with buyers, now they're turning into booze and beats festivals with studio staff produced arts and crafts... I haven't been to a show that doesn't have buy/sell or production studio work and reps in 3 years...
Never used to see that in the old days...
Guess I'm going to have to mold some simple finished stuff and hire studio staff produce oodles cheaply produced jewellery , have bins of it... in order to make it profitable...
All my jewellery fits into a medium roll on suitcase and still have room for ring displays and other misc packing items too.
I have two bins, one for displays and one for boxes,if I sell anything ,and for misc packing supplies...one large roll on for my Crown display cases...
I can't hang on doing shows much longer, fighting cancer and it's taking all my energy and money...
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