Annapolis Fine Art, Craft and Wine Festival

Another learning experience for me.

I did this show because I was going to be nearby and could fit it into my schedule. It is held on a large field adjacent to the parking lot of the Navy/Marine Corp Memorial Stadium. Easy load in and load out as vans can drive right up to the tents with wide access aisles. No vendor amenities to speak of. They gave you water if you went to the show office and asked for it. Period.

There was a man directing you to your space when you pulled onto the lot. That was the only help provided.

Weather was fine with warm temps and lovely breeze off the Bay.

The merchandise was all over the map, 95% low-end crafty things, but also represented were vegetable home-delivery services and home insulation specialists! Several obvious Buy-Sell booths. Lots of food vendors. Really and truely not FINE art or craft at all. Only a small handful of serious high-end artistic crafts represented. My sales were terrible.

I would advise you to apply to this show and do it only if your price point is in the $20-$60 range. The buying public seemed very enthusiastic about the wine but not much else. No one in my vicinity made any sales to speak of.

Will never apply to this show again.

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  • You can ditto this for the Annapolis Beer and Craft Festival.  A waste of time. The lady behind me was selling Gutter Guards...hear me cry...ok...maybe they were 'handcrafted',,,in China

  • I just got a voice mail from paul@jurying.net saying he wants to hear from every artist that was not happy with Annapolis. I sent a scathing email. Please write to him.

  • Quick! Sandhi & Michael, write to Paul with your take on the Annapolis show. He just responded to my email:

    Hi Kathleen,
    This is the first time I’ve heard this.  Thanks for writing to me.  Is there anything you can show me back this up? I’m looking online and don’t see anything. I want to do the right thing here.
    Kind regards,
    Paul Fisher
    President
    Juried Art Services
  • OK. I sent my letter to Paul. Here it is:

    Dear Paul,

    I strongly suggest that you drop these bozos from your roster. I participated in this show last week and there is nothing FINE about it. It is a glorified street bazaar/farmers market (but in a field, not a street). Booths selling insulation for the home; "win a shopping spree at Home Depot"; Buy/Sell everywhere. You could count on two hands the number of actual fine art/craft artists exhibiting here.
    Really, it shouldn't be given the prestige that inclusion on your site offers.
    Don't sell yourself to these cheap, second-rate posers.
    Kathleen Caid
  • I think separately. More emails in his inbox will make more impact. Plus, we each have our own viewpoint to express. I know he gets these because I had a run-in last year with a FAKE show that I paid for from his site and I got all over him to alert people not to come. He needed prodding!!!

  • joint is good!

  • Do you want to do a joint email or each separately?  I  would  be inclined to email to the  CEO, Paul Fisher.  My own email is mcheilman@aol.com. 

  • I'm with you.

  • Michael, why don't you and I both write to the head honcho at JAS telling him what we think of his client (Annapolis)? It might get under his skin a little.

  • Michael, this is a tangent away from Annapolis, but since you brought this up and maybe Connie can add something, I find it a little difficult to navigate around this site looking for just the right thread that I want to read. It's probably simple enough but it doesn't seem simple to me. This has become such an important repository of first-hand information for art fair artists that it is vital the data contained herein can be accessed swiftly and smoothly. I think it's a little cluttered and I have to hunt and peck each time I am looking to find information I am seeking on a specific subject. Are there any geeks out there who could make some suggestions to make it a slick and painless process to get right into the hearts of the matters that count? How about a tutorial?

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