Blog

July 23 & 24
Shelby Township, Michigan
4300 Main Park Road
Saturday & Sunday 10am-6pm
75 Artists
Deadline: April 24

The Stony Creek Art Fair is in a beautiful setting next to a lake. The large parking lot is within 100 feet. Close to large homes and wealthy patrons, this show should be good for most price points.  Stony Creek is a popular park in northern Oakland County near Rochester, Birmingham and other high-income cities. Millions of people visit the park annually. 

July 2 & 3
South Haven, Michigan
Stanley Johnston Park
Saturday 10am-5pm & Sunday 10am-4pm
100 Artists
Deadline: March 7

Application fee: $40    Booth fee: $275

The South Haven Center for the Arts is proud to host the Annual South Haven Art Fair. South Haven is a coastal tourist destination for over 500,000 summer visitors from around the world and attracts massive Fourth of July crowds. The Art Fair takes place in a beautiful wooded park one block from Lake Michigan and South Haven’s North Beach.

Our goals are to provide a successful environment for exhibiting artists, creatively market the event to a wide range of potential buyers, and provide a professional awards program by credentialed judges. We will also prioritize the health and safety of our community, and will be responsive to current guidelines. We are ready to make this year's art fair one of the best and we welcome you to join us!

Please get more information on the South Haven Center for the Arts Website here: https://www.southhavenarts.org/

Application: https://www.zapplication.org/event-info.php?ID=9997

Contact: Kerry Hagy info@southhavenarts.org

Here you go, this show sounds like they have done their homework to protect everyone as best as possible from Covid-19.  The show is the 18th Annual Orchard Lake Fine Art Show held in West Bloomfield Township on July 25 & 26th.

The show is produced by Patty Narozny of HotWorks.  Patty has had to cancel several of her shows earlier this year.  It greatly bothered Patty to cancel show after show because of the virus.  Patty knows that artists depend on shows to make their living.  Patty worked with the West Bloomfield Township and is following the Covid-19 guide lines based on the Governor's executive order to put together the safest show possible.  The 18th Annual Orchard Lake fine Art Show may very well be the first Michigan show to be held since the Covid-19 shut down.  This show may also become the model other show producers will be following in the future so that art shows can become a possibility once again.

So, what can you expect if you are able to get into the 18th Annual Orchard Lake fine Art Show?  The deadline to apply is June 19th so don't drag your feet and there is a limited amount of spaces available.  Below you can read about the precautions that will be in place to make this a safe show for everyone in attendance:


   *  There will be 3 main entrances into the show.

   *  There will be a few hand washing sinks spread around the show.  This show had a sink before in the
       relaxation tent so that people could wash their hands before they ate while at the show.  Well they
       will have a few more now.

   *  The sinks are touchless, they are operated by your foot.

   *  There will be signs at each porta john urging people to wipe the handles before & after use.  There
       will be disinfectant & paper towel there for people to use.

   *  All show booths will be 3 feet apart.

   *  If possible all booths will have 2 or more sides up to help the air to flow through the tents.

   *  Social distancing of 6 feet apart will be practiced.

   *  Face coverings will be encouraged however since the show is outside it can't be forced by law.

   *  Artist will use pointers - if possible to help with physical distancing.  This may not be possible for
       everyone so then face coverings should be worn when interacting the artist needs to be closer
       to the art patrons.

   *  One family unit at a time can be in the booth.  Other shoppers will need to wait outside the booth
       to be invited in.

   *  There will be markings on the ground for spacing for the art patrons.

   *  Every booth is responsible to bring his/her own hand sanitizer & have it displayed in booths for
       people to see & use during the show.

   *  Jewelers & browse bins will need to be wiped after touching & anything else needing wiping should
       be wiped during the show.

Patty Narozny has put a lot of time and work into trying to put together a safe show.  This could be a good time to try to get back into an art show.  It will be different and take some time getting used to.  I think this will work.  You might want to give this a chance. 

Don't forget that the deadline to apply is June 19th and there is a limited amout of spaces available. 

Let's make this work!

    Once again I have spent some time evaluating the www.Artshowreviews.com website.   Take a look.  I think you will find some very interesting facts.  We know many of our artists use our Art Show Reviews website.  We know because you have also told us many times that you do use it when you are making up your schedules. 

    However, we need your help.  This website will not be as useful to you or any other artist if we don't get new show reviews.  We are averaging 1 review for every 4,000 times someone uses our website.  Artists are using us but not giving back.

    I have often asked artists to write a review for certain shows.  Many are hesitant and I have gotten the impression they think I am looking for a bad review.  I am not asking for bad reviews.  I am hoping the reviews are good ones because I hope all the shows are good shows.  However, mainly I am just looking for honest reviews that are helpful to others.

    If you want to review a show that isn't on our website, go ahead and write your review.  If I find we don't have it listed I will add it.  No problem, I am just happy you wrote a review for us.  

    Every year I get a comment that is left on our website like this one:

How come so many of the posted show reviews are from 2-5 years old?  Can't you supply some more updated review information from artists that have done the shows.  After all, many shows go through changes from year to year.

    This comment is very true.  If we don't get new reviews all we have is old reviews.  Shows do change.  Shows try to improve.  We want artists to know the show has changed for the better if it has.  Please help us.  Please consider writing a review for us.  We are just asking for about 5 minutes of your time.

Please give back to keep our website as useful as possible.

#1:  We now have 650 art shows on our website.  Last year we had 643, so we had a slight gain in the past year.

#2.  We still have 7 states that do not have any art and craft shows listed at all.  The states of Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia have never had a show review submitted for them, thus those states have not been added.  If you submit a review for those states I will add the show and get that state on our website.  Surely, someone here has done a show in one of those states.  Please write a review for us.

#3.  The state with the largest amount of shows listed on our website is Florida.  That probably isn't a big surprise.  We have 86 shows listed on our site in Florida, that is two more than the year before.  Coming in second place is Illinois with 43 shows.  Michigan has 37 shows and is in 3rd place. 

#4.   We have 24 states with 10 or less art and craft shows listed.   

#5.   We have three states with only one art or craft show listed for them.  Those states are Arkansas, Rhode Island, and South Dakota.  Anybody have a show they can submit for these states? 

#6.   We still have only one show listed for Canada.  We know they have shows up there.  Does anyone have a show and a review that they could add to that page to make it more valuable?

#7.   We actually have a European page with one show listed.  Has anyone done an European shows yet? We would love to add a couple shows to that page.

#8.   Since our website went live we have had 1,285,929 page views.  That is amazing!  We know artists are using our website.  We need new reviews so that our site remains useful and needed.

#9.   In 2019, we had roughly 130,655 page views.  

#10. In the last 30 days, 1/11/19 - 2/11/20, we have had 10,182 page views.  Of course, this is a time when many artists are using our site to put the finishing touches on their show schedules. 

#11. We usually average about 375 page views per day.  In fact, we had had 257 page views by 8 am today.  Artists were up early and working today. 

#12. We had a total of 30 reviews that were written for us during 2019.  Of course, many people use our website without ever leaving a comment or writing a review.  We also had 17 comments left. 

#13. In the last year, we had 130,655 page views.  Of those over 130 thousand visitors only 30 times did artists leave a review.  Certainly we can give back to the art community better than that.  We want artists to use our website, but we would also need you to give back.  

#14. The average show review probably takes less than 7 minutes to write.  There is a simple form is right there on our website and you just fill it in.  Easy peasy!  Simple as pie!

To submit a show review click on this link: 
https://www.artshowreviews.com/review-an-art-fair.html

To submit a show that is not on our website click this link:  
https://www.artshowreviews.com/art-show-listing-submission.html

This was the 22nd year for the Garage Sale Art Fair.  I love coming to this show.  There is something for everyone here.  This show is held the last Saturday of February.  Winter can be rough in Kalamazoo and by the end of February people are ready to get out and shop.

The show is put on by Bonnie Blandford and Michael Kifer of Road Wife Productions LLC.  The show is held in the Kalamazoo County Expo Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  It is a one day show and this year was held on February 25th.  

The show is held in 2 large rooms.   Artists set up on Friday.  Bonnie and Michael provide refreshments during set up which was very much appreciated.  

Shoppers show up first thing in the morning.  There is usually a large group of them waiting to get it.  I have been there when there was a very long line to get it.  Shoppers can sign up for drawings that take place hourly throughout the day .  If your name is called you win shopper bucks to spend at the show.

Bonnie also makes announcements about special deals all day long.  Artists will occasionally make a special offer to draw people to their booth.  The special deals seem to be very popular in the afternoon towards the end of the day when artists decide they don't want to take some stock back home.

You can find great pieces of art to buy at this show.  Most of art work doesn't have so much as a single flaw. Some pieces are for sale because the artists want to make space for their new show stock.  Plus, you can also find some strange things that artists are trying to get rid of.  I have seen pieces of iron sewer pipe, a microwave, booth lights, an antique photographer's tripod, and much more.  I am always surprised to see the huge variety of things you can buy and sometimes even more surprised that it has disappeared at the end of the day.

Alison Fox, whose booth you can see above, is a stained glass and mixed media artist.  She always stocks her booth with some great pieces of art work.  She also stocks it with all kinds of weird objects that she collects throughout the year for her art work.  Alison will sell everything she brings to the show. I have walked by her booth and watched her get rid of everything by mid afternoon.  She is amazing!

The show goes til 4 pm.  It is not uncommon for some artists to be sold out by 2 pm.  That has to be a great feeling for an artist.  

I'd like to mention the yellow shopping bags.  Shoppers will buy themselves one of those nice yellow Garage Sale shopping bag and fill them up.  By the way, what a great idea to have those shopping bags available.  It is not uncommon for shoppers to get to the show and buy more than they planned on and realize that they didn't bring anything to put all their purchases in.  I have seen so many people walking around with those nice bags which are usually full, too.  The shopping bags help to make more purchases easier to handle.  What a great idea!

This photo was taken in the morning around 10 am.  Shopping is well under way.  The selections are good. There is something for everyone.  People come to this show with the full intention of shopping and buying.  

There are 145 artists at this show.  There is a nice selection.  I didn't think any one category was top heavy.  

I took photos that better showed the crowds but those photos were blurry.  

Below you can see two                                                                                                               

                                    shoppers that are looking intently over
some ceramic pieces.     oh hey, it is Connie       Mettler.  You never know where she will show up.  

This show will be held February  24, 2018.       That gives you almost a year to fit this show into your schedule.  

If this show is out of the question for you there is one in Wisconsin and Ohio that may work out better for you.  We all hold onto stuff we don't need anymore.  This show is a great way to get rid of some of that.

Until next February 24th, oh, I can't wait.                                                                                
                                                                                                      

I am reaching out to this amazing community to get feedback from artists who participate in Art, Beats & Eats in Royal Oak, Michigan.

It looks like the latest review is from 2011, and I wanted to know if anyone has feedback who participated in 2012 and 2013.  I think the potential is huge - but so is the commitment.

Thanks so much!

Kelli