I just got an invite to Naperville Womens Club show July 13-14 2013.

 

I've never done this show and there are no reviews here on this site, I do Old Town and Port Cinton in Illinois and honestly I can't remember why I applied to this one.

 

Any good? Worth an 8hr drive and 4 nights in a hotel? I have textured mixed media 2D paintings (mid-high end)

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  • I've heard that this show is not as good as the Riverwalk show. I think I got that information from the Art Fair Source Book . . . .

    ~Emily

    • "Not as good as the Riverwalk show" has to be the understatement of the year ;-)
      • Thanks for the info. everyone. How about the Milwakee Domes Festival?

        • Rachelle, that should have it's own thread. No one will notice it at the end of one discussing another show.

  • I did the show 1st time last year was VERY hot .The area is great ,I had a 3 show bad run when temps were above 100 .I made my space fee  back.I agree with Robert we were treated well .I'm kind of staying away from to many July shows because afraid it will be hot again .Patrons get this glazed over look in their eyes when its that hot.

    • Just as an aside on the heat issues, I've been using some of the Flourish Sta-bar clamps at the rear of my booth to support a couple of painter's poles and some corner brackets to create a rear awning out of my back tent flap to get a 7 foot deep awning when that much room is available. What has really helped has been to bring an extra tarp and layer that on top of the back flap to get two layers up there, and that has proved to be a very effective heat barrier. The awning has legs at the back of it to help support it so it is quite stable.

      I use as many as 5 or 6 of the 12 volt RV fans from Walmart to cool the booth in front and back, and customers will come in and comment about the "air conditioning". One fan is always positioned above the flip bin to make sure that's a comfortable spot ;-)

      All that doesn't bring the customers in through the gate of course, but once they make it into my booth, they tend to stay longer.

      I knew it was going to be a scorcher the entire summer starting out. I did a little local show at the first part of June that was in a parking lot and adjacent to a city street with no shade. I was backed up next to the sidewalk with traffic about 15 feet behind me. I set up way early as I knew it was going to be hot, arriving about 6:30 instead of their suggested 8:00 AM set up time for a 10 AM start time. I moved slowly, sweating like crazy until the tent and awnings were set up and getting some shade.

      I shared the space with another photographer, a friend of mine. Along about 3:30 I mentioned to him that there was something I should have done and couldn't figure it out. It dawned on me I hadn't hit the restroom the entire day. I had brought a cooler loaded with water, ice tea, and a few soft drinks. I counted up the bottles I had drank, and realized it was almost 5 quarts of fluid in 8 hours or so. It had all sweated out and it was so hot it had evaporated without leaving damp spots on the shirt. By the time I reached home later on, the shirt had dried and the salt stains looked like it was tie-dyed.

      Conditions like that are really dangerous and someone can be hurt if they don't stay hydrated. We had a few people getting dizzy around us, and brought them to the back of our booth to sit down and cool off.

  • I'll have to give a resounding NO! I did it last year and lost my shorts. I thought it might have just been me, but the other artists down at my end were likewise in having low, very low sales. Very few of us were inexperienced artists, mostly having done shows for many years, and most of us were first timers at the show which is not a good sign.

    The show organizers are a very nice bunch of ladies who have put this show on for years, but unfortunately advertising was minimal or ineffective and the crowds were inappropriately named. You could have rolled a truckload of bowling balls down the aisles and not hit anyone. The Saturday night dinner was fantastic and awards were given out, but that still doesn't replace the buying crowds. The location is a historical living museum on beautiful grounds, but that still didn't bring in the buyers.

    I received this year's prospectus and had a brief demented chortle as I read of the hordes of eager buyers that attended the event. The best I can figure out is that their advertising copy writer was in an alternative universe last year, or possibly inserted a couple of zeros accidentally to arrive at the crowd figures.

    It was a pleasant show to do as there was time to wander the show and see the other artists work, stop, and chat. It was sunny in the back of the booths, so there was just enough room to tie the back flaps together so we created a 16x20 area that was shaded with tarps. Like I said, we had time to be creative.

    Nice people running the show, plenty of artist amenities, great artist party, but extremely low sales for everyone around me. I'm sorry to say I can not advise trying it. To give you an idea of the attitudes from the artists, everyone started packing up in disgust about an hour early.

    • It was also close to 100 degrees that weekend! Dangerous to be out whether patron or artist.

      • I remember the heat =8-O
        As mentioned, several of us back to back and side to side were able to tie our rear tarps together and create a large shade behind us. Another good reason to have extra poles and clamps :-)
        The disconnect was this years claims of high attendance from last year. It just didn't happen, and a few artists who had done the show before said it was slowly dying.
        • I had actually done this show something like 20 + years ago, in the days when I stayed in the Chicago area. I had the impression last year that there were many more artists than formerly. I was wondering how it normally is. I did not know whether the weather was the chief factor or not. I had talked to a friend who always did well there, but she did not exhibit in 2012, so I had no means of comparison. 

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