This past weekend (9/21 & 22) was spent at the Monte Sano Art show. It takes place in a beautiful state park in Huntsville, AL - home of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and Redstone Arsenal.
The show is 2 days Saturday and Sunday) 9-5 and 9-4 with set up on Friday 1-6. It's a very easy set up allowing you to drive right up to your booth and park behind it while setting up and the same on break down. The booth spaces can be quite a challenge as it is in the state park but a few good shims and well placed 2x4 squares help out. Most of the 100+ booths are in the shade. Some deep shade as was mine. The weather up on top of the "mountain" runs about 5-8 degrees cooler than in the valley of Huntsville. We had cool morning temps with a nice breeze most of the day.
Saturday typically starts off with a bang but generally dies down around noonish as the football games begin. This is a part of the south steeped in football- Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, Clemson, Mississippi State, etc. The crowds picked up a little in the afternoon but weren't anything to write home about. I did pretty well for Saturday but I wasn't leaping for joy. In fact, come Sunday morning, I was a bit blue as Sunday's have never been my strong day. Well... I was proven wrong. The day started slow (you know this IS the Bible belt) but after church the crowds came in. For me it was a different crowd than I had seen on Saturday. It seemed to be a bit more professional crowd.The majority of my sales were in the $34-$100 range.
The show is run by Huntsville Arts. They provide water and snacks in the park lodge during the show and a wonderful dinner and drinks on Saturday night. This year we brought our travel trailer and stayed 3 minutes away in the park campground. Great decision!! In past years we have stayed in a very nice Hampton Inn about 15 minutes away for $89 per night. There are wonderful artists and a variety of fine art at the show.
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Suffice it to say the I've been to Huntsville many many times over the years for work. IT has the highest per capital of Engineers in the country. That said, it is more cosmopolitan that you might expect and i have come to love that place, and have many friends and colleagues there. That said , I have received gifts from artisans that a dear friend, a true Renaissance man, who went every year would send me. He always went, and was able to find fabulous things. And he had impeccable taste. The gifts are dearer since he passed away last year from Cancer.
If you are in the area, Lowe's Mill is also a wonderful place to visit, as it is a converted mill, for artisans and has working artists there as well....
Connie- I’m a glass jewelry artist. I’ve done this show 4 times over the past 6 years. A couple of artist friends (potter and coppersmiths) told me about it. My observations are that having NASA and Redstone Arsenal in this smaller city have brought in an educated population from all around the world. It offers an inexpensive booth and lodging expense. I made 19 times my booth fee in this 2 day show.
Many thanks, Alisa, for this review. I've never heard of this show, but have spent time in Huntsville, a lovely town with highly educated people -- all those NASA folks and their suppliers. Yep, you hit the football Saturday syndrome. Don't think it is just the South. Here in the Midwest it follows the same pattern with big U of Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, etc., fans. We think it is the only place where they play real football.
Sounds like a very well run show. What is your media? Have you done the show before? How did you find out about it?