Mulberry Street Festival, Macon GA, March 23-34, 2013
Just imagine. It is your 43 annual festival. You have about 230 artists coming. You have thousands of people looking forward to the festival in downtown Macon where it has been held for 43 years. You have been watching the weather with great trepidation all week. It is Friday afternoon. Forcast is now for severe thunderstorms. Chance of hail. Wind. Just two years ago the festival suffered a severe micro burst. It is 3 p.m. Artists will be signing in and setting up their booths at 6 p.m. Imagine the potential damage to artists, products, and the people who might come to the festival. Imagine the potential legal aspects. The decision is made to cancel the event. But no. Wait. What if there was another venue option? What if it could be moved and held under cover? Yes. Maybe. But could another venue be found and get all necessary approvals? What about publicity? What about traffic?
They actually did it. Middle Georgia Arts Association moved the venue to the State Farmers Market where there would be cover against the elements. As artists arrived at the usual check in site they were re-directed to the Farmers Market. Of course there were now no assigned spaces. It was find a spot and get set up best you can. And the artists did it. Well, some were a bit grumpy. Some people don’t like change even if it is good for you. But overall most artists greatly appreciated the protection. And it did rain. A LOT. And there was some wind. There was hail but that was a little further north of Macon. Could have been on our tents! The local newspapers, radio, TV News stations were all making the announcements. Social media spread the word like wild fire. And the people came. They came in droves. Buses were provided to shuttle people who were parking at the nearby college and the mall. Police officers helped direct traffic. People were able to enjoy the festival even though it was raining – outside the covered Farmers Market. Sales were all across the board. For me it was another great show. On Saturday we did not have time to take lunch. Sunday was also steady.
Imagine the impossible. And Middle Georgia Arts Association took on mission impossible and put on a great, and safe, festival. I was in awe at what they accomplished. Hats off to all those who made the 43rd Annual Mulberry Street Festival the success it was.
Here are some pics of the event. I know, not some of my best photography but I was trying to grab a couple quick shots between sales. Saturday night there were thunderstorms. There was wind. There were a couple tents tossed about. And with all sympathy to those who experienced some damage, ahem….where are your tent weights? Please people, unless you are inside a fully contained building use weights for your safety and the safety of those around you.
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Oh and dont forget to use hula hoop sections to prevent water build-up on your roof if you have a caravan or EZ-Up. You can tighten up your roofs on your ez-ups if they have velcro attachement points
I have an EZ-Up and have used them (I am on my second b/c parts like roofs cost almost as much as the entire tent) for the past 10 years. I have NEVER had my tent blow or collapse due to weather or any other conditions. This is because my roof canopy is tight and I use plenty of weight to hold it in place approx 400 lbs combined displays and weights all tied into the tent with upper and lower flourish stabars for extra strength and stability. It has survived 60-70 mph straight line winds, thunderstorms, and multiple inches of rain in a single day..
So dont confuse exhibitor inexperience with poor design or cost
I would note that 1 of the tents in the pics was an EZ-up and the other 2 were Caravans. The EZ-Up was weighted by (4) 1.5 gallon water jugs (total weight= approx 50 total pounds of weight)...
The second tent was unweighted (A Caravan also, I think) and the one next to it (The Fudge Tent - an EZ-Up also) looked like it had concrete weights and sand bags, with their displays tied to it.. Looks like wind pushed it and you can see it is carrying some water on the roof from rainfall on the portion standing outside the shelter.
The third tent which collapsed looks like a caravan judging from the legs and was weighted by concrete cylinders. This tent lost a leg and collapsed. BUT it also looks like a portion of the tent roof was outside the eaves of the sheltered space and it collapsed as it the roof filled with water on that side (I'd be willing to stake a dollar on that) The leg looks like it broke where it joins the canopy top frame (a plastic articulated joint) The Caravans look like they had either plastic or rubber feet
And, look at what was being sold in these booths... my guess is jewelry or other wearables. I would also guess that possibly they were exhibitors who didn't do a lot of shows or were recent to vending judging from their displays (Take home messages: 1) Yes, shows should require and inspect for a minimum weighting for the tents people use, 2) experienced exhibitors use plenty of weight on their tents having watched so many newbie tens blow or collapse, 3) New exhibitors buy the least expensive displays they can afford - so don't take it out on them if they dont all have light domes or craft huts or other 1500$ tents... at least those tents were white )
Maryllis ,I beg to differ that this show was a huge success. I have done this show for 4 years straight and it has always been in the downtown location. That being said every year but last year has rained at least one of the days out,but the crowds still came and shopped. I was at the show 2 years ago when the rain started at 3pm on Saturday and we still got shopped by people taking refuge in our sheltered tent. I came in on Sunday morning and started putting my art on the displays when I heard the wind whirling and the temperature changed, at this point is when I witnessed 2 tents roll end over end in front of my booth and then I held on as I watched a tent come across the grassy median towards my booth. That being said I lost my tent that was weighted and secured by another tent that was not weighted as this show is notorious for having vendors with unweighted tents and the organization doing nothing about the unweighted tents. I have mentioned this to this organization several times and the vendors still think they do not have to weight their tents.
As far as this past show (Mulberry Street Arts Festival) I started driving from home to this event which is 4 1/2 hour drive to get a text message from another vendor friend telling me at 2pm the day of the event that it was cancelled due to weather. I called Peter(President of MGAA) to ask him what was going on and he told me that they were in the process of cancelling the event. With so many of us driving a long ways to get there,that would have been the wrong thing to do. All of this was being considered by this organization without informing any of the vendors by email or phone call. As a vendor many of us had hotel reservations and a lot of money tied up into being a vendor at this event.
I was very disappointed with this organization and their decision to up and move us at the last minute, especially when it has always rained at this event and professional art vendors know how to prepare for rain and winds.I had been watching the weather channel all week before the show and I knew that there was a high chance of rain ,but I was prepared. That being said, I was disappointed that we were moved to a Flea/Farmers Market
When we arrived to Mulberry Street to set up on Friday there were no signs or any info stating that this event had been moved to a Farmers Market (6+ miles away). We were all clueless to this change of venue until a guy tapped on my window at a red light to ask me if I was a vendor and to tell me to go to this new venue.
When I arrived to this Farmers Market everything was in complete chaos with no vendor spaces assigned and we all had to rush to find a 10x10 space and when we did find a spot most of the neighboring vendors had a 10x20 space which became even more chaos as we were all fighting (literally) over our purchased (unassigned) space. This organization was very unorganized and unprofessional as we were all up in the air trying to find a space for us to vend.
I'm not sure as to who (Maryllis) is speaking about stating they liked the venue as all my vendor friends did not make any sales and I didn't even make my booth fee back.
That's another story.We paid $250 for a 10x10 booth space and ended up in a flea market where you could buy a table to vend from for $7 per day. I was appalled that I paid $250 for a flea market space because when you set up in a flea market you get a flea market crowd and not an art buying public. This venue (Farmers Market/Flea Market) was in a very bad neighborhood with the Projects adjacent to this property and razor wire around the perimeter of the fence around the property.
Many of my customers/repeat customers did not show up to this event even though I reminded them of the venue change on Facebook. This change totally hit my pocket because I would consider this event at the top of my show list especially for the month this event is held. I will not return to this event due to this big mistake of venue change and non-communication from this organization.An email or phone call would have helped us a lot.A lot of my vendor friends will not return to this event also.
As far as some of the vendors liking this venue, it may be because those vendors are buy/sell vendors anyways and not handmade artists like myself. I'm not sure why this organization has a jury fee and why we send pictures of our work because anyone that sends money in to them gets into this event.I had never seen so much junk and buy/sell imports at a show ever. One of my neighboring vendors was selling twisty hair bands imported from China and I have seen on TV with a 1-800# for ordering.
The MGAA organization is not organized. I would not recommend this event to true artists that I know because they do not care if real artists make any money at their events.
All this being said it was a mistake to move this event as downtown Mulberry Street has always been great for me and other true artists. The rain did come, but before the event started (stopping at 9am)on Saturday morning and it did rain on Sunday night after the event hours, but both days turned out to be just fine as the weather goes. We just didn't get any traffic and I don't blame any of them for not coming into that bad location of this event. I will not re-apply to this organization. And this organization does not need to sugar coat their mistake because they jumped the gun by moving venues and has hurt many artists that won't return.....
Also when the Food Trucks found out about this venue change none of them showed up to this event and there was no food except for Kettle Corn and Ice Cream vendors
The Mulberry Street Festival is organized by Middle Georgia Arts Association. I joined MGAA one year ago and am happy to have found a great family of good hearted, talented and creative individuals. The Board took action and I applaud their courage and thoughtful decision to continue the show in a safe environment.
http://www.middlegeorgiaart.org/
This is a great story, Maryllis. Thanks for telling us about it. People do love events and look forward to them, so when they are cancelled it is a loss on so many fronts. Congrats to the organizers here for their fast thinking. Can you mention them by name so we can applaud them publicly?
Annette. I would not have believed it would work had I not seen it with my own eyes. It was amazing.
Great decision by the organisers Maryllis, kudos to them for finding a way of keeping the show open and the locals getting on board and spreading the word!
Thanks Donna, Jacki and Bernard. Nothing like a little excitement to stir up some fun.
Gotta love those E-Z UPS!
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