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I just completed my first time doing the Marine on St. Croix Art Fair. Marine on St. Croix is a tiny little town on the St. Croix River, about 20 miles due east of St. Paul, MN. They've been doing this event for 40+ years to raise funds for their fire department. Sounds podunk, until you realize what a great little community it is, how much money there is in the area, and what a beautiful setting the show is in. 

Application is by mail. No Zapp. I juried in with my photography of European scenes, but I don't think it is a tough jury process at all. Communication is basic but effective. Show up on setup day and ask around until you find the registration in front of the Fire Dept. Traffic is pretty well controlled on set-up day, Friday. Lots of space around your booth and nearly all are on grass in the city/village park. Lots of time to set up. Everyone can start at noon. Count is maybe 100 artists. 

The show runs Saturday-Sunday, 10-5 each day. Plenty of parking for vendor/artist cars and trailers within 200 yards of your booth, max. Load-in and load-out are pretty easy, as there is little density on the grounds, depending on your location. Nice grass on the grounds and plenty of mature trees for shade. This was really a lovely setting. 

The patron mix is fairly upscale, though it was more blue collar on Sunday I thought, than Saturday. Attendance pegged at 5000-10,000. I have no way to check the accuracy of this claim, but I would not doubt it. This was my first time at this show so I didn't know what to expect in terms of artist mix. I figured out pretty fast that it was more crafty than I anticipated, but at least it was good quality crafts. 

Patrons came to buy, and did so left and right. Tons of people walking around with purchases. I sold a few prints in the $40-$75 range and one $400 20x30 canvas. Sunday I moved an $800 canvas. 

Across from me was a gent selling basic design furniture items, priced ridiculously low. He made at least 60-70 sales. That dude has it figured out, though his profit was truly thin. Next to me was a direct metal sculptor with items from $15-$850. She was surprised to have sold fewer small items than she thought was on tap, instead moving more mid-priced work. It seemed to me that this crowd is not afraid to drop $40-$100 on just about anything, and hundreds if they like what they see. The only downside is, it's a small crowd.

I'll be back next year as this is an easy 45 minute drive from home for me. Price point mix is the key here, but at the same time, I don't have a ton of data about what kind of items sell best. My guess is more practical things, as opposed to purely decorative. 

Not a bad show for me and I plan to do it again.