Hi! My family and I are moving to Atlanta, (Suwanee) Georgia in a few weeks. I am wondering if you may recommend any shows in that area?

I make handcrafted jewelry (non-beaded, $20-$60 range). My schedule is full through October here in the Midwest area, but I'd love to add a few shows from November through May.

Any suggestions or advice would be SO appreciated. We are completely unfamiliar to this area.

Thanks in advance,

Rhonda

I am not a very religious person, although I have a great deal of respect for faith.  Do you often have people come into your booth and tell you that your talent is a gift from God, that you are blessed?  Artistic talent is a wonderful blessing, but sometimes these conversations can be a little uncomfortable for some of us.  In my booth, I also display drawings of historical figures, including our current president.  This seems to be an open invitation for many visitors to share their very negative political opinions, too.  While we're in our booths, we can't escape the conversations around us.  How do you navigate that kind of thing?

In my blog today,  I've shared some stories about this kind of thing and the religious birth of one of my very favorite portraits.

http://pencilenvy.blogspot.com/2012/05/holding-my-ham-hostage.html

I'm a little nervous about broaching a very personal, complicated subject.  As artists we all express ourselves differently and we're very different people.  But when our talent is on display for everyone, the subject of God can come up a lot, can't it?

Have  a great week!

Join us live on Thursday, April 19 at 1 pm EST, as Connie speaks with Bonnie Blandford, a Michigan jeweler, and Carla Fox, an Oregon jeweler, as they talk about their experiences developing and running art shows for their peers in the art fair business.

August 31-September 3 

Happy buyers at Arts, Beats & Eats

Royal Oak, Michigan
Downtown Streets
155 Artists
Deadline: April 10

We invite you  to apply to the 15th annual Arts, Beats & Eats. This festival is the "go-to" event  that heralds the end of summer in metro Detroit, hosting more than  300,000 visitors who come to enjoy the amazing diversity of art, music  and food in a cool urban setting.

This event is held in Oakland County, which is the  third-wealthiest county in the nation (including cities such as  Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Rochester).

The 155  artists chosen to participate come from across the country to join our  celebration. Being an art fair artist is a demanding business. A  professional staff awaits your arrival and we look forward to welcoming  you with perks such as vigorous volunteers, easy set up and take down, good cash awards, free food and beverage tickets and personal attention  to particular needs.

New this year:

• A lower number of artists than in 2011
• reduced exhibit space prices
• an enhanced layout with varied price  structures
• easier load in and load out
• improved parking access, and  much more!

This year we  will miss Connie Mettler, who has left to pursue

People love this festival

full time her commitment to artists through her various websites. Good Luck to you Connie!

We are pleased to add Donna Beaubien who has joined us as our new Associate Art Director to our Art Team. Donna comes to us from a long history as an artist and a director of art fairs, such as the Art  Fair Chair for the Guild; Art Fair Birmingham, Meadowbrook, Greektown, and the Village of Rochester Hills Art Shows. Welcome Donna!

We know you  are aware of the challenging economic times throughout the nation and in  Michigan, but we want to reassure you that we are committed to meeting  your needs and bringing you the audience you deserve. Ford Arts, Beats & Eats has been one of the few festivals that has been able to sustain a fine arts component over 14 years, and the event's recent move to Royal Oak and limited number of booth spaces, positions it as one of the top potential sales spots for artists anywhere.

Our  promotion is considered among the best of art festivals

nationwide. You  cannot be in the metropolitan Detroit area on Labor Day weekend without seeing specials about the arts activities on television, hearing artists' interviews on the radio stations and reading comprehensive feature articles in the press, directed solely to the juried fine arts show.

Buyers of all ages

**********************

Looking for more art fairs for your 2012 season?

Visit www.CallsforArtists.com

I was just in NYC for Thanksgiving, I was so excited because the ONE OF A KIND Show in NYC was supposed to be going on Nov 11-13 and Nov 17-20.This is a show  I had always wanted to see and this time it was finally going to  happen.  NOT!!!  

While at my sisters house in Riverdale NY I double checked the show information online. I   was somewhat surprised to find that the event was not posted consistently throughout the web. Some posts had both weekend dates listed and some posts only listed the November 11-13 date. There was no phone number readily available either but my sister and I  went to the address given.  GUESS WHAT ? NO SHOW! The doorman to the building said the show was canceled. It would have been nice for the sponsors of the show to post it was canceled.  What if I made a special trip to see it.  

In the meantime I remembered that the ACC show was also going on this weekend so we jumped in a cab and off we went. We were going to have our art show experience after all. 

 However and  I hate to say this , (because  I thought one day in  in the future I might want to try to jury in the NY show, since my sister lives there)  the show was not up to standard. My sister and I both felt half of the items displayed in the fair looked as if they could have been at a flea market.  What a disappointment! There were a few artists whose work was noteable, so I was glad to see that, but .... I certainly expected to see great things. It is NYC, after all.  

I asked one exhibitor if she knew what happened to the ONE OF A KIND SHOW, she answered that the booth fees were so high very few people could afford to do it. 
This post address the same subject as the higher booth fees article.  These promoters may just run themselves out of business if this keeps going on. 

Let's hope this show becomes another holiday tradition!

Here are some thoughts :

1)     The Elegant and Central location of the Highland Park Country Club was a superb selection.  The Club itself is beyond lovely and on high traffic roads.  I feel the site and hostess details will be keys to drawing our friends back again and again. On Friday night, there were spotlights circling the inky darkness and trying to draw the Friday Shopper’s attention.  On Saturday and Sunday evening, there was a pianist playing at a baby grand in the entrance way, which set a scene of chic charm as clients made their way into the warmth of free hot chocolate and the laughter of easy conversation. There was an open bar for patrons. But the massive fieldstone fire place, natural wood floors, glitter and gleam of huge chandeliers, entire walls of windows, the circular bricked entrance driveway, heavy linen and silver…..well, they define elegance. It may have been this Art Fairs first year but it will not be the last!  

2)     The crowd was nicely knowledgeable, compellingly friendly, warmly witty and low-keyed affluent. More traffic was needed. I think that comes with time and word-of-mouth…..tradition….etc.

3)     We had free access to electricity and it is my own fault that I did not bring more strobes. Live and learn!

4)     The set up was wonderful. Across from each row of booths were a number of linen clad round tables with a center Christmas decoration where you could take the customer and sit down with them. People could just rest there also.

5)     Amy, as always, treats her artists well: we had a Continental breakfast and hot lunch available with gallons of coffee/soda/water available at all times.

6)     Check In/Out was clean and fast, as usual, at Amdur.                                                         

7)     It was loverly. I hope to see you next year.

8)     We took in over four times our entrance fee, did not have to pay for breakfast or lunch and danced a jig when we got rooms at a 5 star Marriott Suites on Groupon for $49 a night.

9)     It was heatening to hear how many of my clients expect to see me this summer. Wow!

I had fun!

When I posted my blog piece "Why aren't I selling?" I did not expect the response that I received. All I can say is WOW! I just finished reading each and everyone of them and appreciate the various comments, opinions and thoughtful insights that others have on the subject.

Michael R. made the remark "... sold to 4 out of every 10 that stopped by? Really?" To that I have to respond, "Yes, really," however, when I gave that figure, I did not say whether or not the individual had gone by my booth before without purchasing something. This in fact happened several times and a few of the "4 out of 10" came back either the same day or one of the following days of the show to purchase. When they returned they told me they just had to come back because of the amount of energy, the way they were made to feel important, especially when I would excuse myself to answer someone's question, tell that person I would be right with them as soon as I finished with the other person, and then return to talking with them, tell them to enjoy their day even when they didn't buy anything the first time around. I even joked with one person and told them I felt like a used car salesman when I explained about the festival and what we were striving for. The response I received was that I never made the person "feel like" they were being sold a bill of goods.

I have to agree with Michael that if my numbers matched and/or balanced out with the total number of attendees then it would have been a highly profitable venture to say the least. If I HAD sold according to the attendee numbers, I would have been out of stock the first day of the show. LOL. Believe me, I realize just like everyone that sales don't always go by the numbers and in a perfect world we would ALL realize the fruits of our labors. To me, however, building good customer, or potential customer, relationships is extremely important. I did have several people that were pleased that I was still doing the festival as they remembered me from last year (they did not purchase anything from me then), the referrals to other vendors I had given them when they were looking for something specific and directions to various places of interest within Alpena. They even brought others to the Festival this year to meet me and they all purchased something with a promise that they would return again next year.

Word of mouth on the positiveness and/or negativeness of an experience at a show can make or break a show or a vendor. For example, a vendor had a customer complain about a shirt they had purchased last year that was handpainted. The customer even brought the shirt in to show how badly the paint had come off. The vendor looked at the shirt and asked if they had "hand" washed it according to the instructions they received when they purchased the shirt. Even though the customer did not follow the insturctions, the vendor told them he felt bad about the results and gave them two different shirts at no cost to them. The customer was floored by this and even stated that a lot of BIG companies wouldn't do that. He ended up purchasing a stained class and hand carved mirror from this same vendor. When the customer left the show, he stopped at the ticket/information area to tell them that he would definitely be back and bringing others because of the way he was treated months after a prior shows sale by a vendor.

At Festival, even in these tough economic times, we've tried, for the most part, to be very upbeat and positive. We must be doing something right as we will be hosting our 17th year in 2012! The Festival goes out of its way to make sure that the vendors have what they need, when they need it and be as supportative as possible. However, there are a few that no matter what you do, that are not happy but that happens anywhere.

Thanks again for all the wonderful comments and for the food for thought. Mike R, just want you do know I appreciate YOUR comments as well as wasn't picking on you. The numbers and rationale were right on the money, just felt that your comment was a good one to use as an example of how numbers can be tweaked and not really give a good accurate result. May each and everyone of you have a successful show, meet wonderful people and enjoy all the best that life has to offer.

In eighteen days, my second son gets married to a wonderful girl. I'm all ready. I'll even post pictures of the event on AFI for fun. So, as Mother-of-the-Groom, I planned the rehersal dinner, helped the kids pay a few extra bills, and made all the wedding jewelry........no sweat!

I've needed a break. LOL

Yesterday I received a Zapp notification for Des Moines.

NO WAY....thought I......deadlines sneak up .......Oh, OH!

OCTOBER 31!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jimmeny Cricketts!!!

I looked up Lakefront Festival of the Arts in Milwaukewe, my hometown. Yikees!

The speedometer on my life went from 25 to 65 in minutes.

So, how prepared are you for the 2012 season?

1) Have all your professional photos taken and ready to upload to zapp, amdur or the moon?

2) Have that booth shot with all three walls showing?

3) Do you even have eight creations you think will "WOW" those jurors in six seconds?

4) Have you found your "market" and know which shows they flock to attend?

5) Do you have the money to pay "X" amount of jury fees?

What are you doing in 2012 that's new, innovative, researched or intuitive about the Art Fair World?

We're all Insiders, so, do share, will you?

Stories are Everywhere.

That’s the tag line for Blurb Mobile’s free app that allows you to create your own stories featuring all your personal media from a mobile device.

The catch?  That device must be an iPhone, iTouch, or iPad.  (based on Apple’s quarterly earnings, every family has at least one, right?)

So, if you have one, and you’re in the art biz, pay attention!  This easy-to-use, fun, and cool app can help you market your work.

Blurb Mobile lets you use photos and video  shot from your iPhone (or imported from another camera), sequenced ‘as you wish’ into a “My Story”, provides image editing, and you can add audio clips and/or text captions to each photo.  Director and producer of your very own short, media presentation.

So, how can it be used?

Imagination is the limit, but for example:  My wife and I travel to juried, outdoor art shows…it helps me instantly chronicle show attributes (crowd size, show venue, booth layout, quality and mix of work, etc.) More important I capture highlights of my wife’s work/tent, customer interactions, featured art, etc., then edit it right on the iPhone with the app and hand it to her for audio voice-overs of select images. This adds the personal artist touch and insight to some aspect of the event.  The Story can then be shared ‘real-time’ via email, twitter, facebook, to get the word out (like…”hey friends, I’m at a great art show right now in northeast Louisville…Saturday has been busy and I will be here all day Sunday…Come and check out booth 75!”)

Or…

• Send out a Story in your next email newsletter to keep existing customers informed and engaged on your schedule and new work
• Take a series of short video clips of a ‘painting-in-progress’, capturing the process and the inspirational elements
• Information on a new series of art classes offered

Of course, Blurb Mobile works beyond art stories, offering a way to…“instantly create and share from a social setting, travel location, a personal moment, or, an important event.”

I sent my 87 year old Mom a Story one early morning from my porch, cup of hot java in hand, birds humming, flowers blooming, sun rising…took some photos, voice recorded in some personal thoughts, then hit send and shared the moment with her instantly.  Too cool.  (…Ma, really, it’s there, just click on the little colored link!)

I don’t work for Apple or Blurb, and get zero for this endorsement…just passing along a tip that has worked for us.  I used the Free version for about a day to see how it worked and quickly found the $1.99 upgrade a no-brainer, adding greater media capacity…and the freedom to create better stories.  With the upgrade you get:

• Images:         Up to 15 images per story
• Audio Clips: 1 per image – 2 min per clip
• Video Clips: 3 per story – 30 sec per video
• Themes:       8 additional themes

Check out the details yourself at Blurb Mobile and iTunes App Store. Version 1.3 is now available.

There is no limit to the number of Stories you can create, but, alas…boring content is still boring content.  The app is cool…it just doesn’t promise all the Stories will be! 

So, the Gypsy Train rolled into Indy for the Penrod Arts Fair 2011, looking for big sales and happy times.  We were so excited to be a participating artist of “Indiana’s Nicest Day”, the self-claimed tag for the one day show on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Everything was as advertised.  350 artists, multiple music stages, wine stands, gourmet cooking (teaching) chefs, children’s area…heck, even Bud Light taps sprouting from walls of strategically parked trucks.  With the cost of admission at $17, a ‘buying crowd’ was practically guaranteed.

Sold some paintings early in the day and thought we are on our way.

Then the call came.  Frantic.  Desperate.

I don’t know who to call.  He broke his neck.  I don’t know what else to do, where to go… can you pray for us. Yes, of course. 

The  cell call came from a loving Mom (and dear friend of ours).   As we stood in the back of booth Yellow #75, she was floating in a speed-boat on a lake in Tennessee.  Water skiing fun gone terribly wrong.  Her 22-year old son in a freak tangle, had fallen.  Neck snapped.  Face down and unable to move, a Friend in the water rolled him over to save drowning.

The terror in her gut and the look on her son’s face tell Mom …he’s dead…but then she, Dad, Wife, & Friends go into action.

Get him to the rear deck.  Pull him onto my lap.  Call 911.  Put the wake board under his legs dangling off the back.  Flag down that passing boat.  Screaming, waving hands…Please Stop!

The boat pulls along side.  Just happens to be carrying a Nurse.  Her first time on the lake, ever.  She’d swam in it, but never boated.  Today, she boated.  And was cruising by a broken neck within minutes of occurrence.

Take charge.  Stabilize.  Hold neck.  Angel Nurse.

Finally back to the marina. EMS coming.  20 minutes seem like 20 years.

While they wait come the words that would double over the father.

“Dad, can you pray for me…”

EMS arrives.  Can’t do anything here. Call Life Flight from Vanderbilt Medical Center.  15 minutes later the chopper arrives.  Their son, one of the brightest lights and love of their life, just disappears into the western horizon, while they stand and watch.

We left Indy early Sunday and arrived at Vandy minutes before surgery prep.  Prayer chains had been activated all over the country, with resounding, fervent pleas for healing and restoration.

3:33 pm surgery begins.  Fused the 2nd and 3rd vertebrate with bone graft taken from his hip.  Halo head stabilizer screwed on.  Ventilator.  Intubator.  IV’s.  Stuff attached everywhere.

The prognosis comes an hour later…expect a full recovery, with about 15% restricted movement in his neck area.  Not out of woods, but looking good.  Universal Hallelujahs.

Later, one from the Doctor’s team announced…“this is the luckiest man in Nashville.”  

From that same trauma room on floor 10, at least 4 more people would die in the next 48 hours while ‘lucky man’ (translation blessed, for all of us) took baby steps toward immediate healing and a life-long testimony.  His triumph over a near-tragic death came on the same day a nation remembered the tragedy ten years ago on 9/11.

I witnessed a loving, faithful family pull together in amazing fashion.  Made possible by having a foundation.  A source of power and strength; a basis for operating in times such as this.

For the rest of us?  It is not if, but when, we will experience Valleys, hard, out-of-the-blue personal losses and challenges.  That’s life in this world.

Question is… what will lift you up from them?  How will you and your family persevere?

Good looks?  Your great job?  Number of Facebook friends?  Quantity of paintings sold?  Your bank account?  New SUV?

Try taking all of those to the Intensive Care Unit on floor 10.

This family put it all on the Lord’s shoulders.

And not just for a couple of horrible days and nights around a son’s broken neck.  It is a free choice and one they made long before this event.  With it they are promised peace, favor, blessing, mercy, grace, power, in ALL things; even if their son had passed on to heaven that day, it is the strong name of Jesus that would’ve carried the family on.  Thankfully, it is the same name that will now get them through long and painful days of rehab, fraught with discouragement, tears, and frustration.

This isn’t ‘a preach’…it IS to share what I saw work in action this weekend.  And it works like this in countless lives every day.  It is truth.

Some other time I may do an Artist’s review of the Penrod Art Festival…for now, this just mattered a whole lot more.

I am licking my wounds right now and avoiding my credit card statements after the last two shows where I didn't even make expenses.  Two shows which by all research should have been at least paycheck shows, and I'm all out of Xanax.  What is an artist to do?

Setauket, a little village of wonderful demographics right next door to my hometown on Long Island, sorely disappointed in many ways, especially with the nighttime booth robberies.  But I'll address that in another blogpost.  I did well as a rookie art show artist here in 2008, and expected (perhaps delusionally, in retrospect) a sort of prodigal-daughter-returns-home kind of show.  It was a dogwalk.  There are some shows that urge me to take up pet portraiture again, because THAT would have sold.  The shoes were here.  The weather was perfect.  The wallets stayed firmly out of sight.  And every breed in the AKC was here too.  I had some maddening nibbles from two interior designers, who of course  did not have their business cards on them, one said she had a client on the Gold Coast who"didn't want a landscape, but something beachy" and my giant conch "was perfect".  Now I know how guys feel with a case of blue balls. 

Well, ok, I thought, this whole trip so far has been one good show, one bad show.  Onto Montclair, NJ.  Let's go wrangle this monster RV over the Cross Bronx Expressway and the GW into the well-heeled Jersey suburbs.

Aaaack.

Did I say my prayers Friday night?  Did I neglect St. Luke, the patron saint of artists?  Should I have conducted a small animal sacrifice? Should I have bought far more cheap wine and cigarettes to numb the increasing panic as the hours ticked down to five o' clock Sunday?

Oy vey. (I can say this, I just back from Long Island and stuffed myself on good bagels and lox)

Howard and Rose did everything right.  They advertised prolifically, and are wonderful people to boot.  The show is in a great area.  The weather again cooperated.  But the dogwalkers ruled the day.  Munks described in a recent post the vacancy in peoples' eyes, the absence of hope.  My booth buddy neighbor said, "These people could walk off a cliff."  I was not the only artist who didn't make expenses.  I'm stymied, and more than a bit anxious.  And I don't like the cheap red wine I'm drinking.  I'm second guessing my decisions made earlier this year (completely sober, thank you) on where in New England to show my very New England beachy work.  If it's true that it takes three years for an audience at a particular show to accept that you are here for real as an artist, well then, I'm screwed, because I'm basically unemployable at anything else.

So how do YOU prop yourself up after falling face first?

Just found out this morning that Bill Kinney from Paragon had to cancel his upcoming show in East Meadow, LI.  I was bummed, because I had planned on spending the whole month of September on LI, visiting home.  Man plans, God laughs.  Anyway...

So now I have an open weekend, Sep 23-25, and there are a couple of shows that are near where my show the following weekend is in Hendersonville, NC.  I'm looking at all my fellow artists' reviews of Atlanta's Midtown festival, and Charlottes's Freedom Park show.  I could stay north one more weekend and try Armonk.

This is all contingent upon there being empty booths that the promoter might have.  So far, I've been lucky in that respect-many of my New england shows were past the app deadline, but they had open spaces (which may be a bad sign too, but I'd rather try to make money and network than sit on my butt for a weekend)

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions?

I'm working on my show reviews of New England that I've done.  Promise I'll get them out shortly!!

Today is Independence Day. On AFI we celebrate our individualitiy every waking moment. I have been with vocal groups before but YOU ALL define the concept of a "think tank."

So I wondered about all I have read over the past months. Could we get it down to:

ONE THING WE EACH WOULD CHANGE ABOUT THE ART WORLD OR BEING ARTISTS?

(no repeats, except to add an inportant concept to the original)

How high could we go? Each person number your change.

I'll start.

1) I love creating. But I hate having to make enough money to keep the accountant happy. If I could change ONE THING I would improve the economy faster.

Attention traveling Artists! (or anybody needing a HOTEL room)

If you have to hit the road to participate in art shows, fairs, festivals, gallery openings, seminars, conferences, or any other reason that requires an overnight stay...

...this card trick is for you.

Combine the cost-saving benefits of using Priceline.com...

...with the additional tool of TheBiddingTraveler.com.

Assuming you like saving money and getting a decent stay for a great rate then you are probably already a big fan of Priceline.com...notwithstanding the quirky, punching pitch-ster, William Shatner.

TheBiddingTraveler acts like an Ace-in-the-hole to give you the advantage during on-line negotiations.

They aggregate all the recent winning bids (and the rejected bids) for specific hotels, giving your bidding strategy the edge.  Kind of like getting to peek at the other guys cards.

Other sites claim to offer this information but I particularly like the simple navigation of this web site.  On the first visit it was easy to use and aligned with the same 'definitions and formats' as Priceline, for hotel ratings, zones, and maps.

Beyond the option of manually entering your bid, you can also choose a nifty Autobid feature.  Simply enter your lowball bid and your 'final offer' highest bid...you can leave the table and let The Computer play out the hand for you, thereby 'managing' the different timeline rules Priceline has for re-bids.  Autobid starts low and automatically raises it in increments until a bid is accepted or the final offer is rejected.

Consider the combination of Priceline and TheBiddingTraveler and you really can get winning hands of 60%+ off normal hotel rates. Hey, a 3-star Hyatt Place in Birmingham for the low $40's/night ain't too bad.

Sort of tickles the left-side of my brain...my wife the artist, just says..."make sure they have good beds".

I recently have been accepted into the 48th Annual Sidewalk Arts Festival in Sioux Falls, SD.  Looking for any info on how sales were in the last couple years?  Is it worth the $225 booth fee  for a one day show?  Per day that seems high.

Thanks

Jedd

Well guys, sorry I haven't been posting or 'blogging' but alot has happened since my last post. The economy is making a come back but you have to 'evolve' your self and your work. If you have been on the art show circuit for along time, your stuff becomes 'tired' looking and  people that have seen you for 3 -5 years at the same shows start to see it too. Time to relook your work and think of ways to 'update' it. What? Do I hear that is what my work is and I'm not changing a thing? Well, as artists, we evolve every 5 to 7 years wether you want to or not, it just starts to happen in your work. Take a look at your work that you did 5 years ago and look at the stuff your churning out now...do you see the difference? So does the art festival goers.

So go ahead...go play with that idea that has been churning in your head and work it. See what happens....and let me know!

I just finished exhibiting at the Belleville, IL, Art on the Square.  Without a doubt, the artists' treatment, care, hospitality and wellbeing is paramount to the people who run this show.  I can't really remember when I've had so much attention paid to my needs!  From continual water, snacks, food, buffet meals, volunteer booth sitters, runners for cocoa - it just doesn't get much better than what Patty Gregory, the director and chief cheerleader, and her seemingly endless number of concerned helpers will do for us street urchins!  And the buffets - Sat. night for the high school art exhibit to the Sun. awards banquet - I gained weight from all of the tasty foods offered to us artists.  And the pre-show money raised in non-refundable tickets sold solely for the purchase of art:  $104,000!!!

Even in the bitter cold winds and ceaseless drizzle (more about the weather later), volunteers were always available to take of our needs, even to watching our booth while we made a mad dash to the port-a-potties or to grab a bite to eat from the nearby food booths (which had good - and hot food at reasonable prices).

Unfortunately, the weather was a total downer.  On Thurs., those of us who wanted to set up could do so.  We had from about noon on.  It was hot - 86F - and humid.  The weather forecast was for some winds and a lot of light rain/drizzle from Fri. night to Sun. night, with a storm front hitting the area late Thurs. night

And the storm did hit!  The boomers woke me up about 2 AM.  Concerned for my booth, though I had cross braces, cement blocks, a bunch of sandbags (also another thoughtful consideration by the show folks) and a Lite Dome booth, at 2:30 AM, I found it to be taking the wind without a problem.  Not so for a lot of other booths.  There were a number of them with corners bent under, EZ-Ups mashed, even Lite Domes and Trimlines tossed about, with several of them spun around or upside down.  The wind was howling and the rain relentless.  Much of the damage, even to the better tents, came from poorly weighted corners and so many artists didn't use the sandbags offered in huge numbers or used them inadequately.

In spite of terrible conditions, there were about a half dozen Belleville firefighters and another half dozen Belleville police officers, plus a number of the volunteer show staff - all of them valiantly struggling to save tents.  A lot of artwork was loaded into police vans and carried to the police station to protect it.

I can't say enough good things about all of these people - watching them get soaked and battered by the wind while trying to save artists' tents.  Even the mayor came at about 3 AM and went to work helping out!

Well, Fri. night was chilly, so the public turnout, from artists who had done the show before, was down a bit.

Sat. and Sun.: temps in the low 50s, with a windchill factor near freezing from 15-25 mph gusts and almost non-stop drizzle (when it blows horizontal most of the day, everything and everyone gets wet) really reduced the size of the crowd.  From the artists I talked to, sales were from down a little to down a lot.  BTW, Fri. night is patrons' night, Sat. seems to be for folks coming from St. Louis and Sun. is when the local towns come to the show.

The forecast for the show?  I don't think anyone will hesitate to apply again next year.  According to Patty Gregory, over the years, the average temp for the show is 77F. - always a good temp!  I didn't do well, but I'll be sending in that jury fee next year!  How could I not, what with treatment like I received.  Now, I just have to lose that weight....

...if a show will always be good!  

I had a single day show this weekend.  It was the fourth year I've attended and I was expecting much of the same sort (and size) of crowd and consequently the same sort of sales as previous years.   Boy, how wrong could I be!  

There has been new management the last two years, aimed at increasing the exhibitors with the result of some buy/sell allowed in.  These 'vendors' had increased a little but I wasn't overly concerned, believing my work would shine through :) .  

BUT, then the wall of people that normally arrive at opening time didn't.   The general 'type' of person was different - more kids looking for presents for their mums for mother's day, and less of the well groomed ladies with their hubbies in tow.

Hours into the show, numbers were still drastically down, interest from people walking around was low and sales were dismal.   I saw a couple of familiar faces from previous years but they were only looking, not buying.  

I started to second-guess my work.  I wondered if I wasn't engaging the potential customer enough (what customer - they weren't even stopping!?).  Was there something wrong with my set up?   I knew the effects of the GFC was still hurting people, but in the four shows I'd done over the last few weeks, there was a reasonable level of purchases.  Did this town suddenly just not want my work any more?

I took a few minutes out to visit some nearby booths.  Anyone with a handcrafted product over $20 wasn't doing very well at all.  However having a look around:

*the lady with the fabric bags (handmade ... poorly done but still handmade) had also gone into a line of buy/sell t-shirts and accessories and seemed constantly busy. 

*the woman with the buy/sell $10 candles in pretty jars had girls and teens 6 deep most of the day. 

*the woman with the $15 glass pendants had lots of blank spaces on her boards.  

*the bloke with the leather belts was doing quite well. 

This was "market" territory, not a proper 'show'!  WHAT was going on?

I ended up chatting to one lady who asked how it was going and I mentioned that there seemed a lot less people this year... she then told me that a lot of people were probably at the food & wine festival on in a nearby town.  Usually a week apart these had clashed this year.  *ahhhh*  All those nice prospective buyers and previous clients must have been living it up with gourmet food and boutique wines a couple of towns away!

Fortunately, towards the end of the day some ladies came by stating that they had promised themselves that if I was there they wouldn't buy 'much'.  Thankfully either their 'much' was substantial or they just couldn't help themselves and they turned my rather dismal day into at least a worthwhile event.

But lesson learned.  I'll now be looking at what else is on around the district and won't be counting those chickens quite so quickly next time!