I've been exhibiting at the Great Lakes Art Fair off and on for many years. I've never done terribly well at this show, but the timing (early April) and the location (indoors), is so tempting. If I can make a few bucks early in the season, it would be a great way to finance a few more shows in the summer (and pay a few bills). It is also only about three hours from my home in Saugatuck, Michigan. In past years I've sometimes kicked myself for investing in this show, but this year I'm happy I did.
The show takes place at the Suburban Collection Showplace, a big convention center in Novi, Michigan. It offers an easy setup on Thursday, when you can drive your vehicle into the convention hall, unload, then take all day for a leisurely setup. Or you can set up on Friday morning. Friday setup requires you to dolly your stuff into the hall. This year the show offered artists the option of buying a double booth for 1/2 off of the second booth. Single booths are $400. I added a second booth for an additional $200. Electricity is included. I stayed at a nearby Holiday Inn Express for four days, bringing my expenses up around $1200 for doing the show.
Show opens at 1pm on Friday and runs until 8pm. Saturday hours are 1-6pm and Sunday, 11-5pm. Crowds were never very big on either of these days but the best times seemed to be right after dinner on Friday, mid-day on Saturday and mid-day on Sunday. Saturday and Sunday after 3pm the place was nearly empty.
My sales were OK at about triple my expenses, so it was worthwhile for me to do the show. Other artists around me were mixed in their sales results, but that's the case at all art fairs. There are a few good artists exhibiting at this show, but there are also a lot of questionable exhibits. The show could use a lot more fine art and fine crafts. The convention center sponsors this show and does their best to make a profit. They charge a $12 admission fee for each day and they also sell booths to local businesses hawking windows, insurance and rain gutters (among other things). A mattress company rented a big space and had a lineup of about 20 beds in one location. They also have a small cafe set-up and a bar in the middle of the floor. My booth was right across from the bar (which paid off for at least one sale to a tipsy fair-goer).
If you do this show, don't expect sales to skyrocket, but it might help pay a few bills early in the season. I'd personally like to see a lot more fine art and craft. I think it would boost the popularity of the show among the locals. I plan to participate again next year.
Comments
Of course you don't want to be paired with a circus, Barbara. I liked it when the wine show was the same weekend. But the economic truth is that this event is owned by the expo center and it is not income producing for them (very little), but has the purpose of keeping the hall busy when it might be empty otherwise and they have employees who need to be working. We started it in 2009 or 8 back when the recession was so bad and the owner, Blair Bowman, just wanted to keep the event going in the hopes that something would be well established when the economy turned around.
One of the owners... I believe her name is Kim Gartz, has been a fan of mine. She and her husband own a couple of my pieces, and she bought another one last weekend. You are right... nice people.
You may, may not, know that I was involved in getting this show started, and consulted with them for several years. Really nice folks who own the place and run the event center, some of the best I have ever worked with.
In the early years we did have a lot more fine art, really fine. For some reason, given the good location of the venue, in a very nice zip code and with good marketing, bringing in the "right" buyers (or rather enough of them) has been tough. I don't get it.
Getting the vendors away from the art is so important. I hope you posted on the surveys that this is not a good thing ... I agree with both of you, indoors at this time of year, seems a great opportunity worth taking. The booth fee isn't bad at all and it has never been raised since the show first started.
Glad you did well enough to return John, and Barbara hope you can make this work too.
Yes. "Frustration" is a good term to use for this show, although I am less frustrated this year than in the past. The show would be perfect if more people came, and more artists exhibited. What great timing for an indoor show in Michigan, after a long winter...
We traveled in from Cleveland, also about 3 hours away.... so we had a housing expense, meals, and the show itself... And we were thankful that we met expenses,but friday we wondered if we would. We found friday as very slow and sleepy. Saturday was our busy day... yet the crowds were never quite that large. By sunday we were realizing that some of the attendees were really there to go to the circus, which oversold tickets and did not have the room for the people.
I am thankful this year that we were not next to one of the commercial booths (gutters, vacations, mattresses, etc) because in past years we were, and attributed lower sales to people avoiding the commercial folks. This year wanted to be wonderful. Such great and talented artists, wonderful work, diverse, and worthy of any well done art show but sandwiched between the various commercial folks.
I join you in hoping for more fine art. I have heard that the show has always had this image... great selections but not drawing the art buyers. She certainly advertised well with even the news media there 2 of the 3 days. I just think the choice of pairing us with a circus at the same time was poor choice. Circus goers are not necessarily art fair folks. On saturday i had a lot of folks tell me the "love coming to this craft show". Yikes, i wanted to scream when i heard that. I cannot imagine painters, or silversmiths, or glass blowers as "crafters". what can we say.
I am up in the air about whether or not i will return. This was a third year we tried. We did better this year than last, but..... still not meeting our projections and hopes.