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  marie johnson November 10, 2012 at 4:31pm

  So glad to hear you had a great show at St. James Lois.. Glad you made $$ being in the middle.. When we 1st did W.E.B. we were in the middle with not many booths in the parking lot. We did great then we asked to be moved to the street. We did better, much better. But the turnmoil of W.E.B. has been a JOKE.. Never knowing who was in charge was the first challenge. Then Jada took over. We asked to be on the street again. Was promised the same spot on the street as we just had. They don't keep their promise. We were assigned a spot in the parking lot.. after much begging and repeating what was told to us, was told no way on the street. Set up booth which can take up to 4 hrs to do..we were called at 9 p.m. and told if we could move our booth we could have a spot on the street. So we went to move our tent.. to the same spot that we had the year before!! We finished moving and setting up AGAIN before it started to rain. Last year, 2011, we were told we could have the same spot as long as we put it on the app. We did. Still was trying to put us in the parking lot. After a few phone calls we got our spot back.. 2012 comes around.... we were out of town a lot and forgot to really check to make sure we were on the street again. OH no, they put us back in the PARKING LOT.. After leaving a few millions calls, the "so called" pastor called back. Said he could not change anything for us. A few hours later he called again returning our call. Ahhh u just called us a few hours ago. Did he change his mind? NO.. So upon calling 4th st and 3rd st. to see if there was a wait list we were put on a wait list for 3rd street. All we had to do was send some pics. We were #7 on the list. That was so sweet and nice of them. Of course someone did want to do the show but to have someone treat us with respect was great. Not like W.E.B. In fact, the pastor even called again about 8 p.m. to say he was returning our call. Not a great way to put on a show. We know other crafters that have had problems with W.E.B. as well. One crafter was told that they would get their money back.. that was 2 yrs ago.. We did great on the street. Promoters do not realize that repeat customers do not want to wander the show to find you. Maybe we will apply to 3rd or 4th st. next year and advoid the hassle of the church.
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  Lois Anderson October 14, 2012 at 5:13pm

  Connie,

  BTW ... St. Mary's got a new Enrichment and Outreach Director on August 1st. The new person did not wish to "mess with" the Art Show and so ... it has been cancelled. Too sad! It was a good show.

  Lois
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  Lois Anderson October 14, 2012 at 5:11pm

  The show management asked for people willing to do demos and I got selected from the list, along with a potter who threw a pot, a pewter artist, and a few others. I mentioned when I sent my note of interest that attendees would be offered pieces of yarn to try the knotting and a handout to take with them. The SJ people told me they liked the idea that attendees would walk away with something and get to try something. 

  LOL ... I can tell you that after several people tried the knots ... they came over and purchased a full-knotted Rosary ... already finished. :-)

  Lois
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  Connie Mettler October 13, 2012 at 5:16pm

  Baptism by fire! (no pun intended here, Lois) This show has just about everything in it and a person can learn a lot by participating at least once to see where the interest lies for their work and what they find interesting and worth pursuing. Lots of lessons learned. Great to hear that you did well, Lois. I saw on your profile that your best show at the time you signed up was at St. Mary's College, my alma mater!

  Just like any art/craft finding the right venue is surely one of the most important things about this business. Best wishes and thanks for this additional info.

  How did you arrange getting to do the demonstration?
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  Lois Anderson October 11, 2012 at 8:09pm

  Okay, folks who have had bad experiences ... please don't beat me up or make negative comments about my art, craft, or whatever YOU wish to call it. I do Religious Jewelry and Rosaries.

  My experience at St. James Court was great. I did a live demo in the inner court every day at 11am. "How to tie a knotted Rosary" People were amazed at the look of yarn as it turns into a fully-knotted Rosary. They really do make beautiful Rosaries. Many of those who came by the demo tent showed up at my booth either later that day or the next day. 

  It was refreshing to have so many people comment about the religious aspect of my work. One woman commented, "I cannot tell you how glad I am to see you here. It is wonderful that this part of our lives is represented." I know some might not see the religious feature as purely art--many people made similar comments and it really encouraged me to continue my work.

  As to sales ... I did really well for my first year.

  Friday Sales were okay, not fantastic ... just okay.

  Saturday Sales were very good ... and the price points averaged around $60-$100

  Sunday Sales were good ... and several people came back to get things they looked at the day before.

  I'd rather not say how much I made, but I paid the expenses and had a decent profit. This was my best sales show--ever.

  My best friend does photography and I know she did almost $7000 at the show.

  We were at West End Baptist Church ... and ... unlike previous comments ... I did not see one person who painted light bulbs.

  One fellow with beautiful silver work and I may do a joint project next year with him providing the centerpiece and crucifix and I will provide the beads and the design for a unique and beautiful Rosary. 

  All in all ... I loved the event ... I had a good time ... I made money ... I was encouraged to continue my work ... I made wonderful connections with other artists. In short--it was great.

  Lois

  P.s. My booth was in the center row and I have access from both sides of my booth. That worked great ... so ... I got them coming and going. Several people saw something of interest to them from one side ... but did not see it from the other side. I really like being the the middle row. It was great for getting a good second-look from shoppers. Many bought from the second-side they saw and it did not matter which side was second. This show was a GRRRRRRRRRRREAT Learning Experience.
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  Ruth Jellema October 8, 2012 at 8:28pm

  I am also just back from St. James.  I've been doing it off and on (mostly on) for a long time.  It has never been a great show for me, but has been consistently decent.  I have a kind of love/hate feeling for this show.  The fall atmosphere and weather can be great.  The historic neighborhood is beautiful.  But you have to endure hour after hour of people shuffling by without even looking into the booth.  But then someone comes in and you make a great sale. 

  I spent several years on Belgravia Court - put up with setting up on a cliff, dollying from the alley, and watching the backs of people's heads as they stared at the houses.  But, sales were good.  When sales dropped and 4th street was looking to upgrade its quality, I  moved there and have a space I really like. I had a bad show last year and came back partly to keep the space.  This year my sales were way up.  I had steady sales all Friday.  Saturday started slow but then picked up including one of my largest pieces.  Sunday they shuffled by all day and I only had 2 small sales.  In the past I've had lots of customers coming back on Sunday to get pieces they looked at on previous days.  This year there was none of that.  Around me there were some really big pieces sold as well as people who had horrible shows.

  Just a couple of comments:  I took a walk through the inner courts.  Traffic was decent.  Traffic on the outer street can be deceiving since many are going down the middle not looking at all.  Actually going into a booth involves climbing up 1 or 2 steps.  There was some really excellent quality in the inner courts - very unique and very good.

  Also, attending this show is just the thing to do in Louisville.  Most are there just for the experience.  But, it's purely an art fair - NO commercial booths (that I saw), NO entertainment stages, just lots and lots of booths.  And, of course, food and drink.
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  Alison Fox October 8, 2012 at 5:43pm

  I just got back from the St. James show.  Third year.  First yr was Belgravia.  I even had 2 spaces since I knew the layout was tight and the flow of people was too.  Didn't help one bit.  They still didn't stop.  Then the second yr did St. James Ct of course, in the the Inner court.  Yes, you could hear the crickets and the hoards of people circling in the Outer court.  Third yr came back because now I was on the Outer court.  Of course I'll make money now!  Same thing, different location.  All three yrs barely made expenses.  They were not even taking business cards.  Just walking past.  As an example, I did The Plaza a couple of wks ago and ran out of bus. cards the first half of the first day!  Had to hand write the rest of the weekend.  So bummed because I love the area.  Beautiful homes, beautiful people who let you use their homes at will.  Margie is a great promoter.  Nice-est out there.  Don't think I'll be back as this does not pay my bills.  Munks your post made my day!  Too funny!
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  Robert Wallis October 8, 2012 at 11:33am

  This was my third year in a row of doing the show after doing it three times back about 20+ years ago. The first time back in the late 80's or early 90's I was on the inner court of St. James. Interestingly enough, the photo of the lion statue is where my booth was then. There was about 3 feet of space between my booth and the statue. After complaining about the bottle neck, someone came in and removed the flowers from the flowerbed so people could walk through. My sales sucked and after a couple of years, I was moved out to Third Street where I was between someone making handmade brooms and someone else making country craft terra cotta jugs of the moonshine variety. Sales got worse and I think I zeroed out. I swore it would never do the show again. After many years my brain cells faded, and I reapplied. I've been in the same location for three years now. The first two were break even and a small increase last year, so this year was the decision maker to either do better or drop the show.

  Sales were nada on Friday, $20 on Saturday, and $300 on Sunday toward the end of the day. I had to do extreme price dropping to get those. The artist next to me said she talked to a photographer on the Court that had zeroed for the entire show. Several around me were doing poorly. I'm debating whether to ask for another location on Fourth if I do it next year or not.

  My sister-in-law used to live on Second Street just over from the show location, and she had some choice words for the show and the herd mentality. Many people go the the show to buy something small just to say they got it at St. James. The show is a place to go and be entertained by all the pretty and unusual things. I had 2X better sales at a little one-day show the weekend before that had a minimal booth fee of $30 and had no lodging expense. Go figure. Discussing the show with some friend and relatives in Louisville, the consensus is that the crowd is looking for inexpensive work and bargains. I've got to reconsider very hard whether to go back at all or try one more time with a change in location. I was 8 booths from the entrance on Hill Street, and my feel is that that location was mostly people leaving or coming in. I did see  a fair number making a loop, but most of the river of people were going in one direction and didn't return. I'm pretty disgruntled at this point.
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  Britt Hallowell October 8, 2012 at 9:58am

  I will never do St. James again.  This was my first year doing it and I was in Belgravia.  I got so frustrated with 90% of the people not even bothering to turn their heads away from the beautiful homes and even LOOK in people's booths!  There is an art festival going on people!  LOOK AT THE FRIGGIN ART!!!!  Granted I've only been doing shows for two years now, but I've never had such a low profiting show.  Ever.  I made expenses and a little bit more, but not much.  Honestly though, I'd have to make a whole lot in order to make the stressful load in and tear down worthwhile.  And having to search for parking (I had to pay $10 twice b/c I couldnt find a place to park) and the RUDE RUDE RUDE crossing guards.  But most frustrating were how people just stood in their cattle herding line and would not leave their place in line for anything.  Tons of people in streets.  No one in booths. 
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  Gregg Rasmusson October 5, 2012 at 11:28pm

  I am with you on Ann Arbor, even though I have never been every thing I have heard makes me not want to go. I did Madison this year though and liked it. Yes there were a lot of people, but the walking area between the booths is big, and the layout is so simple there are no bottle necks that get really crowded, not to mention the odd phenomenon that EVERYONE goes the same direction around the square (so just don't fight the flow, lol)