Set up was Friday and it was scheduled in different time slots depending on your booth number. There was supposed to have been a VIP section of the show open Friday night for the muckety-mucks who paid extra $$ for early shopping etc. I say 'supposed' because there was a tornado watch issued around 3PM for the area. A squall line was moving down the Gulf, and expected to hit around 6PM. We all set up, tied down, screwed down, and went away hoping all would remain standing. The rains and wind did hit, but it wasn't quite as bad as was predicted. Around 7PM when the worse was over, I walked over to the booth from the hotel (Indigo Hotel - highly recommend it), and saw all was ok. There was an artist party Friday night with lots of good liquor, and food.
Saturday AM dawned cooler, windy and mostly with blue skies. Lots of folks came out, and walked. We had a nice breakfast with the usual bagels, etc. Sales, for me, were few (2 customers to be exact). We still had Sunday. Sunday the weather was beautiful, a little warmer, and less windy than Saturday. Lots of people walking again, Sales, for me, were slim. I made a little money, very little. Some folks said they did fine. I saw an artist 2 over from me who seemed to be constantly wrapping, but many I spoke with were amazed at how many folks turned out, but didn't buy.
About the awards, or lack thereof. At the breakfast award ceremony/breakfast, it was announced that due to the current economic conditions, they had a tough decision as to whether to give the award money to the school kids or to the artists. The kids won. (No, I did not get an award). I think first and second in category got a free booth for next year, assuming they wish to return. There were some very unhappy folks, rightfully so, in my opinion.
Artigras next wkd. I sure hope it's better.
Comments
Clearly, the show committee knew they were screwing the artists by taking away the award money. They carefully worded their web site to not post anything about cash and waited until the awards ceremony to say something about it. Everyone knows that when they saw "awards" on a web site, that it means "cash prizes." If you weren't there you would have chuckled at the look on the faces of the artists who were there. This really burns me because it isn't up to the artists to fund a high school arts program. It's up to their parents to pay for it if they want their kids to have art in their high school. We generate a lot of money for a community. It is said that every 25,000 visitors to an art fair generates $1 million in sales to local businesses, which creates taxes, etc. We ask for so little back and not having cash awards, and their reason for it, was a slap in the face to us all. 20 years ago we got a lot of respect for doing these shows. It's about time we got that respect again.
I'm concerned about the awards. Does anyone know if the artists were promised cash awards when we applied? I rarely pay much attention to awards because I rarely win. I've gone back to zapplication and could find no mention of awards there. My experience with the show organizers to date have been positive overall, however if they had promised cash awards there is a big problem.