Got home today from Bayou City Spring Festival in Memorial Park, Houston, TX.
I just live 205 miles from the show and I am not sure I should continue doing this show even though it is so close.
Now a little background.... this past weekend was my (I believe) 37th year in a row in the show. If I lived 206 miles from the show I might just give it up. My time at the show dates back to the old Westheimer Arts Fest. days. The show was at deaths door some twenty years or so ago and a young lady came is as the new director with almost no experience. However, her brain, her personality and her desire to pull this show from the ashes along with her flaming red hear and grit made possible the new birth of westheimer into Bayou City. She stayed thirteen years and turned the dying show into one of the best in the country... twice a year. The name of this savior is Lynnette Wallace. She has been gone from the show for a few years now and both spring and fall have been dying ever since.
To save Bayou City Arts Festival, bring back Lynnette Wallace and any cost necessary ASAP. Please do the same at The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival. She built it perfect and has been gone long enough to see a large decline at the Waterway show as well. The show is still beautiful but the things that made it good are declining.
It is just that simple. Make this very necessary change or perhaps both Houston shows will not exist in six more years. I have watched the huge decline in attendance year after year. Raising all of the prices for the public as well as such things as trying to make the spring show even more huge and the zillion mile walk to the artist parking will all come together and not be a good thing.
RIP Bayou City. I will keep coming, selling less each year and continue to check the pulse till there isn't even a faint one.
Comments
I did the Bayou City show last year for the first time. Grossed about 1/10 what I reasonably expected to do. Costs were 2X my gross. The ONLY thing good about this show was the weather and of course they can't take credit for that... as much as I think they're inclined to try. I think the one and only thing they could possibly have done to further add to the FusterCluck this show was would have been to forget to unlock the gates to let artists in to set up and the public in to buy!
Clearly, I will NEVER go back. And a further sad thing is that now I don't trust any Houston area shows and won't risk any of them...
I'm a she, and yes, I mean free for attenders! 3-d mixed media.
Elaine I think he mean free for the people to attend..
I did Bayou Art Fest this year and all I have to do is load up my car and drive a few miles to the park. But it was not a good show for me this year, either. Here is my take: the weather men kept warning us about heavy rain and possible hail. These frantic reports always follow days of flooding as we had several weeks before. I think they want to quiet all the folks that say "you didn't warn us it was coming!" I was expecting a rainout too, which did not come. Which kept people away in droves.
Secondly, as big and as diverse as Houston is, we are an oil town. And oil is down. I talked to a couple who said they both still have their jobs but they are both worried, so right now they are not buying art as they used to do.
Thirdly, Houston has and is getting more free art shows (one of which I will be in this Saturday, and I am hoping to make some of the money I was hoping to make at BCAF). All of our older festivals need to grow and change with the rising competition.
Speaking as a proud resident of a city that I love!
The shame is that no matter what, Houston is an underserved market for art. To Nels Johnson, I believe Greedy Dumbfucks should be capitalized...I'm just saying.
This my first time doing the Woodlands and Bayou City. I was not happy. Everyone I talked to at both shows said this was here worst shows, sales wise, in 10 years. Both shows are killing themselves by charging a ridiculous gate fee. The Woodlands, which used to be $10 per day, added a day and charged $15 for all three days. I don't think anyone came all 3 days. Bayou City charged a whopping $17 to get in. There is VIP parking close to the show for $70. Otherwise, you have to park some distance away at a designated parking place and then pay $4 to bus over to the show. So, the cost to go to Bayou City is $21. If you pay in advance, on line, it is a little less. This is actually the dumbest business decision I've ever experienced at a show and it has put a stranglehold on their shows as they race to have less and less people come to their events.
I have more to say but I am busy getting ready for Belleville, only having 6 days after coming home from Texas. More later.
Thanks for the insightful review. I've done those shows and wondered why, in a city as big and wealthy as Houston, I never did well enough to make it worth the drive from Denver.
As you see in my post. I have been going to Houston to sell my sandals for a long time. No good shows whatsoever. sorry
Maybe Lynette Wallace would consider doing some advising and consulting to the current show promoters and teach them a thing or two or three that somehow seem to avoid their comprehension.
Having not met her puts me at a disadvantage about knowing what she did and what she avoided doing that made her have such a successful time as a festival director.
I, and many others would most certainly enjoy hearing the thoughts and opinions of any artists who did the shows when she was there... and hear your input about what Lynette did to make the shows exceptional...and who knows, maybe a show promoter or two just might read your comments also and take heed.
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