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Last weekend we were in Tupelo, Ms. for the Gumtree Festival.  For those who do not know, Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis, and as you might expect, there were Elvis references all over town. Our only previous experience with Tupelo was about 10 years ago when we were on our way to Memphis to catch a flight and spent a frustrating 30 minutes trying to locate the Starbucks.  It was in Krogers. As we drove out of town with our coffee we were impressed with the new development we saw.  It has only gotten better since then.  

It was a Friday set up and since we live about 100 miles away, we rolled into town at noon.  Our first impression was that the entire downtown area was new.  On closer inspection we saw that there were a lot of new buildings mixed in with well preserved historic structures such as a major local retail department store and the hardware store where Elvis' mother Gladys bought him his first guitar.  She went there to buy him a bike.  He wanted a rifle.  They settled on a guitar.  The rest is history.

The fair is set up on the streets surrounding the old courthouse. Word of warning, the streets are sloped. There was at least a 4 inch drop from the front to the back of our tent.  Luckily our legs are adjustable as we did not bring shims.  Set up was very easy.  There were no assigned set up times. As folks arrived you were allowed to drive to your spot and unload.  As long as no one else needed access you could stay there.  We hit a lull period and stayed parked for about 2 hours.  Free parking was a block away.

The show hours were 9am - 4pm Saturday and 10am - 4pm Sunday. The weather was perfect with bright sun and no rain in the forecast.  On Saturday several thousand people participated in a 10k run that started at 8:30 am from Main street next to the fair.  People watching the start and later runners who had finished walked through.  I would say the crowd was moderate on Saturday.  The problem was they were not in a buying frame of mind.  Sales were horrible, especially for 2D.  This is based on our experience as well as those around us which included three painters. Photography was well represented at this fair, and a couple of others stopped by our booth and reported the same sales experience.  There were jewelers next to us and across from us.  Their booths had good traffic all day.  Most of the bags we saw were small or had more craft related items.  

At 4pm the fair closed.  It should have stayed open until at least 5pm.  At 4pm there was a street party with an artist's reception.  As reported elsewhere, Robert Wallis won the photography category and I was able to meet him after reading so many of his posts on this site.  Congrats Robert!  There was free wine and beer for the artists and one guest.  We made some new friends and heard some great art fair war stories.  There was a BBQ dinner which others reported as being good.  We did not eat there, more on that later.  

One of the things we like to do after hours is to shoot abandoned properties.  We try to ask the locals about any hidden gems that might make for interesting shots.  A good source of info is the local law enforcement.  When I made the inquiry with one of the guys working the event he said we would not have much luck.  He said the city does not tolerate blight.  If a building deteriorates and there is no plan for rehabilitation, it is demolished and something new takes its place.  He was right.  Since the show hours were short we had a lot of time to drive around and we found nothing which is very rare. 

On Sunday the show opened at 10am.  The artists were the only ones present until about noon and even then crowd was very thin. We has a lot of time to talk to our neighbors.  No one we spoke with was happy with their sales the previous day. Our sales were better on Sunday due to our only big purchase that got us closer to break even. A fair volunteer stopped by to see how we were doing. We asked where the crowd was and all she could do is shrug her shoulders.  The lack of people may have been due to a change in schedule as this show is usually on Mother's Day weekend. It was delayed one week to coincide with the 10k race. Our work is not "gifty" so I doubt that would make much difference to us but might to others.  

We had plenty of time to walk the fair.  There was a lot of high quality work with some mixed in that left us scratching our heads. The Mistura Watch folks were there and were ejected by fair staff. The artists we spoke with were either there for the first time, or the first time in several years, or have done the show consistently for long periods.  Many of the people who walked by our booth were walking with a purpose and not even looking side to side.   

When 4pm rolled around we were in a better frame of mind due to our one big sale and several other smaller ones we made that day.  Break down was informal. As soon as there was room you could drive your vehicle up to load.  There was no supervision of this process and everyone around us cooperated to make it as pleasant as possible.  

The highlight of the weekend was discovering one of the best restaurants we have ever experienced, Kermits Outlaw Kitchen.  The owner Mitch came by our booth during set up to hand out flyers for items that could be delivered to your booth.  His enthusiasm for what he does was contagious.  We had noticed his place earlier and thought we might try it. It is a farm to table restaurant.  Everything is fresh and locally sourced. Just like us, Mitch and his wife Megan are a team. They have their own butcher shop, the Neon Pig.  We had dinner there Friday night, take out salads for Saturday lunch, and we turned down free food to eat there again Saturday night.  We really enjoy good food and this place was in the top five all time.  If you are anywhere near Tupelo, give it a try.  You will not be disappointed. There is an interesting story about how this place got its name but it is too long for this post. 

In summary, the show was very easy to do and a short drive for us.  We enjoyed our visit in Tupelo, had a great time talking to most of the people that stopped by our booth, and made some new friends, but none of that pays the bills.  For the first time this year we went into the hole.  Due to some good fortune at the end of the day Sunday it was not a deep hole.  It could have been far worse.  The 2D artists near us all lost money.  There was one photographer at the end of our row with only Mississippi subject matter with very low price points that reported doing OK.  Our stuff these days is very modern and might have been out of sync with the majority of the public.  Our prices were also out of line with community expectations.  It is doubtful we will do this show again. If you are close by and have low prices you might do well in 2D, not sure about other mediums. There were several other AFI members there.  Please add your experiences. One smartly dressed attorney asked one of our painter neighbors if she was having a good show.  When she replied that she had poor sales he responded that he hoped she would give the show another try. She then asked him if he would pay her hotel bill if she came back. There was silence as he walked away.