48th Annual Art Fiesta, New Smyrna Beach FL

Ok so this was the 48th Annual you would think with 48 years under their belt the artist infopacket would be a little more complete. In the acceptance letterthere weren't any directions to the show, show hours, hotelinformation or even a physical address to look up online to getdirections. So I had to search the internet for the address to theshow which wasn't easy, found it and went to rand mcnally got thedirections. Which were wrong by the way, thank goodness a friend ofmine got there first and by phone she gave me step by step turns toget to the show. We set up on friday, had to dolly a little way Iwas in the park on grass, thank you very much. As usual I just setup my tent curtains and display, didn't need the mad mat because Iwas in grass, yeah!! Oh and I didn't need the heavy weights becauseagain I was on grass. Since it was bike week in daytona most of thehotels raised their rates but we found a nice little family owned onethat gave Ellen and I good rate. Very clean and didn't have that oldhotel smell. When we went to bed the weather didn't look good forSaturday but didn't look too bad either. That of course changed bythe time we got up. The day looked really bad but being hardy artshow exhibitors we went to the show anyway and finished setting upour booths. And it didn't get bad till about 10am and then it wasjust miserable. So cold, and wet just awful. My hands were so coldthat I had 2 sets of gloves on, but my feet just got numb afterawhile. We finally called it quits around 1pm. I had one sale inthe morning a giraffe and that was it. A lot of my neighbors werealready gone at this point so we also closed shop. Went to a friend'shouse for most of the day and then out to eat. There are a lot ofnice local restaurants. While we were at the house the sun came outand another crafter that we know went to the show site to see if ithad reopened but he reported back that all the booths were closed andno one was there. So after dinner we just wasted time driving alongthe beach road and site seeing. Sunday proved to be a much betterday, but the drated weather man said it was going to be windy,considered getting the very heavy weights out of my van and puttingthem up but was too lazy to do it. It was sunny all day long and Ithought not windy at all, but apparently it was very windy out on thestreets but not in the park on the grass, again thank you very much.A tent tried to fly away with the wind, but of course it was an e-zup with not one weight. So the people did come out on sunday and Ihad a decent day, not great mind you but ok. I inched slowly all daytowards the black and finally made it. Also made a profit not a hugebut something I could live with. If we hadn't lost saturday the showwould've been ok. Not great but ok. Not sure yet if I'll go backnext year but I haven't cross it off my list. Break down went verysmoothly, got my booth and stock broke down then pulled the van up tothe sidewalk closest to my booth and dollied everything out to thevan. Some people drove their vehicles into the park but I didn'tfeel comfortable doing that and it was just a short distance that Ihad to dolly. All in all it was an experience, the bikers werenoisey going up and down the street late at night, but thanks to earplugs from wally world they didn't bother me too much. If you don'thave to travel a great distance this might be an ok show to do. I'monly about 2 hrs away from there, 1 tank of gas with some to spare,and I shared the expenses with a friend so the black wasn't too faraway for me. Ok that's it for this review, see you at theshows---greta

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  • One could see where a show might close when the temp is 41 and it is raining hard and windy. Closing seems like common sense to me.
  • I attended this show as well and I must admit I have to put this show in my top 5 worst shows. The promoters shut down the show around 1:30 because of rain which ended about 10:00 min after I gave in and closed my booth. I walked to my truck got in and drove 1/2 way around the block. Guess what the rain stopped so I opened up my booth with about 4 other artist. Since there were 4-5 of us open in the middle of the park and the other 150-200 artist along the street were closed.

    As you can imagine customers drove by and a few came in but with 4-5 booths open they left because no one was open. This really hurt those of us who exhibit for a living a promoter should respect that an outdoor show can go on in the rain. While it was raining there were people with umbrellas shopping. I can understand if the weather becomes dangerous with lightning but rain, which was never hard just steady should not close a show.

    I have done plenty of shows in the rain and made money. I have a lot of complaints about this show and how it was run. When a show has a history of 48 years one would think it would be a smooth operation. This was so far from a well run show on so many levels it was a joke. I for one will not be attending this show in the next 48 years. Some made money but I for one made $0.00. I had major complaints about the judging or lack there of. I voiced my opinion to the promoters but it was just a waste of time. I was so disgusted with the show, the judges and the promoters I asked for my money back. You can imagine how that went over. Let's just say I am still mad about the show and getting a refund still would not make me give this show a second chance in the next 48 years.
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