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Court the Arts, Castle Rock, Colorado is a new show established this year by the Greater  Castle Rock Art Guild.  In part, the show was established because of dissatisfaction and expense of the September show produced by the Chamber of Commerce.  I won’t go into everything I heard about the latter except “every horror story you hear is true”.   I normally do not do first time shows but I was personally invited and I wanted to support a local event.  Also, I had trim to do a June show that was needed on my schedule.  The guild has also opened a gallery on Wilcox Street which has a classroom for workshops.  

Castle Rock is the County Seat for Douglas County, which is often cited as one of the wealthiest counties in the US.  It also has one of the country’s highest per capita horse ownerships (horses go with money).  Other than government, the town provides the usual service businesses to a wealthy suburban bedroom community that commutes to Denver or Colorado Springs.  Much of the residential property is rural.  The town is in the I-25 Corridor about midway between Denver and Colorado Springs.

The show was held on the Court House lawn which is on the main street through town providing good visibility to street traffic.  Booth fees were $100 but mine, being late, was $175.  Set up and take down were easy but you did have to dolly on sidewalks from your site to parking.  I don’t think anyone had to dolly farther than about ½  block and there were wheelchair slopes on the curbs. Set up started Friday afternoon at 4:00 which is a little late but employees had to leave the Court House.  The show ran from 10:00am the 5:00pm Saturday and Sunday June 8 and 9.  From my studio, the show was about 15 miles away or a 20 minute commute on a rural highway.  Sunday morning was spectacular with clear blue sky and snowcapped peaks  of the Front Range from Longs Peak to the north and Pikes Peak to the south; about half of Colorado.  Thunderstorms were forecast for Friday afternoon, but they blew through around 2:00-3:00 before set up.  Saturday was in the 80’s except when cloud cover came over and then it was a bit chilly.  Sunday was clear and in the 80’s.

There was a good selection of art but it was heavy on the painting side reflecting guild membership I believe.  The crowd was small (fewer than 2000) but they were spending money.   Some artists did not do well, yet I did see some large pieces of wall art going out to cars.  I did not make the $2K minimum for my rule of returning, but our expenses were nil and proximity to home are the factors leading to wanting to do this one again.  My sales were in the $1-$1.5K range, and the average sale was $76.  A custom saddle client from twenty years ago bought a $235 belt.  I also made a lot of contacts with locals for gun leathers, special order work and saddle repairs.  All of this stuff materializes throughout the year after shows are over

THE FUN STUFF:  My booth faced Wilcox Street, the main street through town.  Castle Rock, Franktown, Sedalia  and Palmer Lake are  watering holes for bikers from Denver on their weekend rides (doctors and lawyers playing bad boys) so we saw lots of EXPESIVE Harleys and custom bikes with lots of custom paint and chrome.  There were lots of clubs showing their colors and a few hard core guys with beards flowing back over their shoulders.  Next were the restored vintage car guys and street rods cruising town.  Finally the retirees in their BMW, Audi, Jag, Porsche et. al. convertibles with the tops down plus or minus trophy wives.  The good looking tattooed biker gal with the long blond ponytail who waved at this old coot, made my day. LOL. Nuts and bolts of the show are in Art Show Reviews on this site.

Photos:  Castle Rock butte and new Veterans Memorial

                 Wilcox Street  booths, mine is in the shade

                 Court House booths