Just finished The Atlanta Arts Festival in Piedmont Park. I have done this show many times but missed last year because it conflicted with another show. This show is usually scheduled for September but had to move to October because of a conflict with Midtown Music Festival. In my opinion October is a much nicer time of year to have an arts festival. The weather was amazing all weekend.
The show is set up in the park on a road around the sports oval. The booths are on one side of the street and most people have lots of room in the back. The booths use to be on the outer side of the loop but this year they changed it and placed the booths on the inner area. I liked this much better. The booths blocked the view of the sports oval which would often distract the patrons from the art as they walked around. Load in also changed a bit for this show. They use to marshal you in from a separate staging area. This year they staged us in the park and we didn't need a police escort. I know many artists enjoyed the whole marshalling in thing but I was never a fan. It just took up a lot of time. I was happy to see the new set up. When you arrive to your booth spot you have about 2 hours to set up before you have to move your vehicle. Break down doesn't go as smoothly. Getting out of Piedmont Park is always a challenge. Break down, get a pass, get your vehicle and try to get to your spot. Instead of fighting all this I broke down and received my pass. Than a group of us went to dinner. After dinner we drove up right to our booths and loaded up. The show closed at 5pm. I was driving out of the park at 8pm.
This show never gets a huge crowd like a dogwood. I prefer this for a fine art show. The crowd did seem a bit smaller though than usual. Many people thought it might have been from other event going on near by, but there is always something going on in Atlanta. There was the big Red Bull soap box derby races that attracted 100k people. I don't think any of those folks would have been my market anyway. I heard many artists complain there was no advertising and I disagree. I live in Atlanta. I am a big NPR listener and I heard adds for this festival often. I also saw adds in many of the local magazines and print. My sales were good and since this is a local show for me and I have already scheduled many home visits in the next two weeks I think this will turn into a great show. The 2d artists a few booths from me also had a good show. I saw some art walk out but not a ton. If you live in the area or have family or friends you can stay with and Atlanta is your market I recommend this show. The show promoters are amazing. It is run like a real art show. No dogs are allowed. They have a hospitality tent but it was rather far from me so I wasn't able to visit. I dont' think they offered a free lunch but you could buy a boxed lunch. On Sunday they walked around with sodas and waters. Saturday night they had a happy hour pizza party.
Just for fun a pic of Julie Tepp (one of the nicest show directors) and a regular biker in Piedmont Park Ownen Wilson. His girlfriend and he almost ran me down riding through the show before they decided to get off and walk their bikes:)
Comments
Great review, Melanie! So nice to hear about a pleasant outcome in a lovely area...glad you did well and had a fun week-end, aside from almost being run over by Owen Wilson that is, was it really him? Does he live in Atlanta or was he there making a movie, I wonder, pretty sweet...
Hi Melanie, Thanks for the great review. I was there too and on Saturday I was wondering what happened....wondering if the change of dates keep the crowds from coming out. I think with all the Homecoming's and different events people just had decided to come on Sunday instead. It started off slow on Sunday but by noon I was very happy with what was coming off the wall and leaving my booth. It was a solid show for me. I have done it for the last three years and it seems I make around the same amount every year. I can't complain. I think it is a well run show and I only have one future request that I think they could improve upon. I was there by myself and not once did I see anyone go by and ask if I might need a booth sitter. I didn't see anyone except some people giving out water and apples on Sunday. It was so bad that I mouthed the words " I need to go to the bathroom" silently in my booth and a stranger that was across the park came up and said she would cover my booth while I went. (never had that happen before) Also, the food was so far away I finally got a bite to eat around 2pm and I got back just in time to close a large sale and the person had just about left because she couldn't find me. There needs to be food options closer and better coverage for those of us that have no back-up. Other than that, it was a splendid weekend in beautiful Atlanta. I love this show for a lot of reasons but mostly because you can look over this beautiful park all weekend with numerous people playing ball and soccer down the hill and families having picnicks and lovely people to talk to... and there is just something about it....it is just so damn life affirming. Yea Atlanta!