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This show is a hard one to get into. The last time I was in this one was four years ago, and was one of my highest grossing shows in a very long time. I kept getting rejected after that, and decided to make some significant changes on the jury images. It worked :-)

Set up was on Friday starting at noon. I managed to get there in mid afternoon, and went off from home without the map and the check-in point, of which there were two. We found the most obvious one, and of course it wasn't the right one. The volunteer gave us directions to the other one, which was on the far side of the city park this show is held in. Unfortunately, the young volunteer was a little sketchy on the details, and it took some back-tracking to find the entrance. Once in, we found the check in tent, and after getting the packet, same problem as before, the volunteers were a little stumped at showing where the space was physically. The park has numerous sidewalks we can drive on, but exact directions are a little spacey. The problem would be easily solved with some 1x2's driven in the ground with a placard stapled on pointed to each grouping of booths. No big deal, but it did waste some time trying to find the space. On the positive side the spaces were spray painted on the grass. I did have a few other artists that afternoon ask if I knew where such and such booth was, so I was not the Lone Ranger on this :-)

Space was adequate, although there was some irregularity with booth dimensions. My neighbor had about 9 feet side to side and I had about 12 feet. The problem was solved at the local level, and I set up on the far side of my space and that left us with a nice gap between the tents. The space behind the booth was about 8 feet to be shared with the artist behind you. Certain sections had no one behind them and could park there the last time I was there. Artist parking was close by on a softball field, that I had no problem walking to despite bum knees.

Saturday opened up a bit overcast, but good weather was in the forecast. large crowds showed up, and you could see the crowds filter in from the show entrance making their way to the further reaches. It was a nicely diverse crowd of all ages,and we had a lot of traffic. Sales were slow initially and I was getting concerned . A few pieces sold, but still not enough to take away the worry. The weather reports shifted during the day and some worries were there. The day ended on a worrisome note for me. The mixed media artist behind me had the magic formula of low price point, $30 for a small nicely matted attractive piece about 6x9 size, and they were flying out of her bins, frequently 2-4 pieces per customer. It's giving me pause to reconsider how I handle my low price point work, i.e.;cheaper, smaller, and interesting matting. Another artist, working with papers, was struggling on Saturday. One jeweler was doing very, very well, and another was unhappy and grumpy with his sales.

Sunday morning loomed nasty looking, gray, overcast, and rainy. The weather radar showed a large nasty, and state sized storm cell coming in from the west around Illinois and lower. It looked pretty bad. We arrived around 8:00 and started setting up a rear canopy and battening down for severe rain. I decided to pass on the awards breakfast and set up the tent and storage tubs for the rain. The back neighbor arrived and we decided to overlap the back flaps so we were both under a roof, as it were. I did find out for myself later on where the holes in my tarps were :-( it's time for new side tarps, no doubt about it. A fiber artist neighbor behind me catty-cornered was breaking down as we were getting prepared. They did poorly on Saturday, and decided the heavy rain coming was going to kill the show, so they were getting out of Dodge. They leave, and about 30 minutes later, the awards are announced. You can guess who won the award for fiber :-) Money was involved, but I don't know if anything was cancelled or not. The organizers did know quickly that the artists had pulled out.

As a side note, Hudson River Industries was in the show initially but was removed.

The rains did arrive, and I had some spray into the booth but a cloth clipped to the awning kept the mist out and the tent open. I was pleasantly surprised that i managed to eke out some decent sales of canvas prints and framed pieces, besides the flip bin work. I was about 40% down from four years ago, but considering the rain and weather, I was happy enough to make a profit after all expenses. I did hear that another photographer was struggling to break even and another one zeroed out. It may be significant that  the one who did zero has primarily large scale and high price point canvases. A couple of well-known photographers who almost call this show home weren't here this year.

The rain came back again but didn't last that terribly long, but it did impact the crowd. There were major concerns about load out due to soggy ground and turf damage. I didn't bring my 4-wheeled cart, just a little folding cart, and if that scenario unfolded with the vehicles on the sidewalks and everyone in line, the estimated load out time would probably extend into next Tuesday. Luckily, they decided to let us drive on the grounds. I took my time loading up, finishing up almost last of the artists still loading up, and got out about 5 minutes before the drizzle hit again.

I didn't get a chance to see Nels, as he was at the far end of the show from me, but I would have told him to check out Joe Balogna's restaurant about ten minutes from the show. They have great pizza and fantastic fresh baked breadsticks with garlic butter. The building they're in started as a synagogue in the 1890s with the stained glass windows still there. I've seen Ashley Judd there before as she always stops there when she's in town.

Despite some of the young volunteers not knowing the show layout, they were everywhere bringing water and checking to see if you needed a break. Portapots were everywhere in close walking distance, the fair food was unusually good and decently priced. The Thai curry chicken was $9 and the bowl was enough for two to share. Coffee was available from a funky little "canned ham" trailer. Organization was very good with communications several times, and Kelly, the show coordinator, made it a point to come around and introduce herself to every artist. This is a show you can be comfortable with. They can't control the rain, but they were out spreading straw to keep the mud and grass damage to a minimum. It was a show done with a smile.