This is a Howard Alan show located in the outdoor Legacy Village lifestyle center (ie shopping mall of the 21st century). It's a Saturday-Sunday show with set-up availability on Friday morning, Friday evening and Saturday early morning.
Although many show promoters say their shows are situated among wealthy neighborhoods, in this case they really weren't kidding. This place has so much money that even the cop who stopped me for speeding one morning said, when he learned I was going to Legacy Village, "man, I can't even afford to drive down the street up there." The expensive speeding ticket was handed over shortly thereafter.
Turns out this area is home to a large Jewish community, some who arrived directly from Jerusalem. Wish I had know that before I brought my bread-and-butter Xmas-ornament sideline product, which is usually a great impulse purchase that adds over $1k to my show totals. Not so much, this time. But that's okay. There was quite a bit of other ethnic diversity at this show as well, so it was an interesting weekend in that regard.
Although artists who know me know that I'm not a fan of shopping mall shows -- Robert Wallis, remember my exhortation to back away from the mall regarding Easton? -- I must say that Howard Alan seems to do it as well as it could be done. Artist parking is a mile and a shuttle ride away, so that obviously adds a layer of complication when it comes to set-up, tear-down and day-to-day back and forth. But you can drive right to your space for loading and unloading, and the HA staff was so organized and the logistics so meticulously thought-out that the whole shuttle thing was barely noticeable. Staff was professional, helpful, friendly and always on the ball. A pleasant change of pace.
Weather was perfect all weekend. Sunny, low 80s and slight breeze, so no excuses for anything but a great show. Attendance and sales were steady all day on Saturday. Seemed as if the crowd could have been bigger, but those who attended were generally ready to buy rather than just look and move on. They knew what they were doing and knew what they liked -- overall, an educated and easy-to-deal-with group. The show continued until 8 pm, which was a couple of hours too long in terms of ROI.
Sunday attendance was surprisingly brisk for the first couple of hours, then the families with small kids who thought we were free entertainment descended. That was pretty much the end of the steady revenue flow. Sales still happened here and there, but the periods between sales grew longer and longer as the day wore on. By 2 pm, artists were groaning that they had 4 more grueling hours to go and some were looking for alcohol or bullets to end their own misery. In the end, most artists said they did "okay", which in some cases meant several thousand in sales but less than they normally do at shows. Others, who were showing great and very creative work, said their results were lousy. I ended up a couple $k to the good, so at least it was better than sitting at home.
This was my first HA show so I must rely on the opinions of other artists for a comparison to other HA events. In general, this one is viewed as an under-performer, mostly because the $450 booth fee, plus app fee, hotel cost and gas quickly takes you to $1k or more in expenses and the revenue doesn't quite live up to that investment. But if you don't travel too far from home (I was 4 hours away), it can be a nice little filler show. I did hear from several people, artists and shoppers alike, that this show is usually plagued with horrible weather of some sort, so that's another piece of the puzzle to consider. The quality of exhibitors is good, there's live (and good) music, and the food booths are upscale.
I may very well apply to this show again as an alternate to my hometown Summerfair show next year. But, more importantly, it's made me a fan of Howard Alan and I'm now taking a closer look at their other offerings.
Comments
Robert, I would love to have seen those pieces. I like your type of humor.
Lora, there are now several signs in the middle of the walking paths that show which area is art and which is craft.
There didn't seem to be any division between fine art and fine craft. It was all mixed up together. There were some beautiful craft items - very nice jewelry, glass, wood, ceramics, etc. I was down at the end near Dick's Sporting Goods. They may have changed the arrangement since I did it in 2012. I applied rather late in response to a ZAPP newsletter, which probably accounts for why I was in flea market land.
@ Lora;
The rude woman may have been Debbie, Howard's wife. I ran crossways of her years ago at the Skokie show. I had some humor pieces with GI Joe and Barbie figures that are very pointed sarcastic humor that some folks just don't appreciate. Debbie didn't either and told me that the other artists were complaining about them. Some of the pieces are ribald political humor. She asked me to move them to the back of the booth instead of having them out front. I asked around and everyone told me the pieces were funny as hell and she was the only one offended.
Lora, are you saying that you didn't do the show this year - that you did it 2 years ago? Also, wondering if you were in the craft fair rather that the art fair.
Yes. This absolutely was the HA show. I forgot to mention that I did it in 2012. I applied through ZAPP, so I thought it would be a quality show. I asked one of the other craftspeople about the junk and they said that HA is known for filling up space with these flea market items. I emailed HA and asked when plastic hair curlicues became fine craft. Needless to say, I never heard from them. I have done several higher end craft show and have never seen anything like it. It was a terrible experience. I'm still angry after 2 years!
Yes, I should have mentioned that. The show was divided into two distinct areas. At one end was the sandwich-board sign that announced Craft Festival and everything beyond that was supposed to be craft. Coming the other way from different directions were signs that said Art Festival. I didn't walk through the craft area so can't attest to how good or bad the offerings were. However I did talk to a painter while waiting for the shuttle who was called in from the wait list and was put in the craft area because that was the only spot available. Her nephew told me at the end of the show that they did "okay; not great but good enough." I would not have wanted to be put in her space, regardless of the quality of the crafts.
I believe this show was part art and part craft - any fine craft would be considered art, and the craft fairly low end. I wasn't there, but this is how a few HA shows work.
Lora, I take it this wasn't the HA show? I'm not fond of the HA shows, but the quality is respectable at his shows.
I live in Boston, but I grew up in the Beachwood area and thought it would be fun to do a show near where my family lives. It turned out to be one of the worst shows I have done. It was advertised as a fine craft show, but the woman in the booth next to me was selling plastic curlicue hair doodads! There were several other "fine craft" booths of this genre in my area. The woman who was on site to organize the show was extremely rude when she managed to show up. Even though the weather was nice, turnout was very low. Definitely not worth the price.
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