A few of the art fairs I attend entertained record temperatures this year, the Ann Arbor Art Fairs and Arts, Beats and Eats in Royal Oak, MI, much to everyone's disappointment as it impacted attendance and subsequently possibly the sales, but what do you make of this? I'm sure you know of the historic drought in Texas, so severe that cattle were killed because they could not be fed and watered. What happened in Houston this weekend just in time for the Bayou City Arts Festival? It rained.
What next folks?
I predict the Tigers will win the World Series and the Detroit Lions will win the Super Bowl! And while they're at it the U-Michigan Wolverines may as well be at the Rose Bowl!
Comments
I've had some fun weather this year too, but nothing that would keep me away. Short some sales and in the current state of the economy, that's never good. I was a Bayou City and Saturday sales were awesome so I would have loved to see what my numbers would have been for 2 whole days. I dubbed my booth "a river runs through it" humor has always gotten me by. Even in the rain I did $1k and I was actually much more comfortable than on Saturday when I was "Schwampy" all day I would have never survived this show w/o a fan! "Schweaty" is Phoenix in the summer - "Schwampy" is Houston.
OK Thunderbird Artists is a guild/league in Phoenix and they do several shows in the valley and carefree cavecreek area - most shows have wine and a gate fee. I have only applied once and didn't make the cut. They have favorite artists in many categories that are each show. The talking stick show is brand new. Hope that helps.
This was my first year doing Bayou City Downtown, and yes I was in a park, Sam Houston Park. I like my neighbors did not like the location to begin with,most People just dont venture of the the beaten path. The rain washed out plenty of ants which were all over my tent and boxes. Being in the park meant we could not drive up to our booth to load, everything had to be hauled to the car in the rain through ankle deep puddles.
I heard from so many people that it hasnt rained there since February, Realy and this is the weekend where mother nature decides to make up for lost time?!
It hurts, I am not quite over it yet, because, Despite location and a whole lost day I had a good show, so I know I would have had a very good show if the weather would have been on our side.
On another note, by tomorrow the 14th I have to accept or decline a show in scottsdale arizona in feb.2012, The shows name is Talking stick wine,chocolate and art festival. promoters are Thunderbird artists. I found next to nothing about the promoters or the show. I am desperate for any info, I would have to travel from new orleans thats a 2 day drive.
Thanks,
Sabine
Gee Ginny, have you dried out yet? I guess the drive from Texas to Minnesota would allow that, as well as a lot of time ruminating on what to do next.
I remember several years ago asking Ardath Prendergast why she hadn't applied to run the Coconut Grove Arts Festival when its director moved on to other projects. She said flatly -- "no more outdoor shows for me! The weather has done me in." I suppose it is a good thing this Bayou City was the one in the downtown rather than in the park!
I hate to make any excuse for a show not working well, but common sense does say that between the extreme weather and the very real challenges in the economy some factors are out of the artist's control.
Spring, Florida: Near-record heat, April and May. Sales down year/year, first time since I started in the business in 2008
Summer, NJ/Pa/DE: Hot June and July (notably, 104 degrees in Loveladies, NJ one Saturday afternoon!). Then, record rainfall in August: 14 inches for the month BEFORE the hurricane/tropical storm Irene hit. Somehow, with all that, only 3 sales days were lost...but customer counts were low throughout the shows.
September: Barely got my Labor Day show (Kipona, in Harrisburg PA) in before the rains hit during teardown. After that, I headed to the beach and had 13 straight days of cloudy/rainy weather. Didn't affect the shows significantly (all the rain occurred during the week, luckily) but sure did put the kibosh on lots of photography sessions.
October: Back in FL. First show of the month, near Tampa, featured 25-35 mph winds Saturday, followed by downpours on Sunday and a cancelled show just after 10 AM.
Dry season has to kick in soon...right??
I did Houston Bayou this past weekend. Saturday was hot (high 80's) and muggy at times,, however I'm sure the Houstonians thought it was dandy after their triple digits all summer. We had good crowds on Saturday with lots of people promising to "be back" on Sunday. Even the weather forecasters got Sunday's downpours sooooo wrong! They predicted 20-30% chance of rain with a high of 88. The temperature stayed around 71 and the water ran ankle deep all day. The weather report last night said that Houston got 5.75" and it was still rainging.
I saw only a very few sold pieces go by my booth until they called the show at 3. Sales were dismal for me - did not make expenses. Time to go home and rethink marketing plans for next year.
Yes, the weather had a huge impact on my sales at shows. Ann Arbor had the record breaking heat wave, Arts, Beats and Eats had the storm on Saturday night with 60 mph winds that dropped a tree limb on my van, causing $5k damage to the roof and then the torrential rains at Houston killed the last day of the show.
Umm, I think you mean that the Brewers will win the World Series, The Packers will win the Super Bowl and Michigan can go to the Rose Bowl as long as Wisconsin wins the College Football Championship.
I figured a couple of weeks ago if it was going to rain in Houston, it would be during the art festival. If I remember correctly, they have rain storms like Florida, they leave right away and blue skies come out. It just makes things steamy. (I always said my favorite view of Houston was out the rear view mirror)
Don't know how I managed it, but I got through the summer relatively unscathed. Yes, there was the blistering heat, but fans, ice, lots of water, and cool clothing (with "fresh" changes for later in the day) made it bearable. (It doesn't hurt that I really like the heat, too!)
I also lucked out with the storms. I was evacuated twice - both times at the end of the shows, so all we lost were a few hours of sales, but the promoters in both cases were on top of things and got everyone out before the serious weather hit.
To top it off, this has been my best year yet. My sales are much better than last year overall, and I've only had a few weak shows - even in the extreme heat. (I also had people trying to shop my booth as we were tearing down before the twister hit, but that's another story!)
And Connie, you forgot the Red Wings - they're 2-0 to start this season. How about predicting a Stanley Cup?