WOW - What a great first major art festival show! Now I am a Pittsburgher, born & raise in the area so I was honored to getting into the show.
Communications were clear and easy to understand. They gave detailed maps of where to go and what was what. All the volunteers were nice and happy and helpful! They even had people to help unload and carry your stuffs to your spot. That was a nice touch. Now I had 5 friends that were there to help me unload so I did not need to use the volunteers.
I was in the Point State Park area and I got a lot of walking in during the show which was good exercise. I headed to my spot which was located on the curve of the North Walk way and started to set-up. Now this is the only negative thing I had to deal with during the show, my neighbor. Due to this curve and a slight mis-measurement and her issue with where her booth was to go, cause an issue that my booth and my other neighbor be 'off' the well marked path. I had my tent, tables and weights up and she tells me I had to move. So the next hour was filled with waiting for her to get her metal stand booth up so I could move my tent. And of course it was raining during this time!! LOL I could go on and on about the problems she created but it just not worth it. I just felt bad for my helpers having to be there an extra hour and half because of all this.
Now I have to say that I loved where I was in the park. When I first received my booth #, I was not too sure about it since I was on the music stage side. But being the second booth in the row and very near the underpass to head to the fountain, well it worked for me!
The first day of the show was an awesome start with the re-opening of the Point State Park Fountain that was under repairs for 4 years. There was a special ribbon cutting at 4 pm which a lot of business folks were their to see. Later that night the band drew in a crowd that I was not ready for!!! Now the artists hours are 12-8 but really if you want to get every dollar you need to be 11 - 9:30pm! There no way I was leaving until the band was done. So every night, I stayed until 930pm. Yes the day is long but it beats working in the mall like I used to do!
Now a little about the parking. I used a $15 parking garage Friday since I just wanted to get there and get started. And on the weekend, I had a drop off service thanks to my husband. The rest of the days I parked at the Heniz Stadium on the Northside for $6 and took the "T" (our subway system) to downtown. This part of the subway is free and takes only 10 mins! I even had my wheely cart with me so I did not have carry everything!
They have booth sitters available when you need to use the bathroom or get food. That is a nice feature. The volunteers come around and check on you as well from time to time. Everybody is happy! Speaking of food, there was a lot of choices to be had. Not all of it was great but most of it was.
There was the private bathroom the artists could use so there was not a wait line for it. I just had to walk a bit to get there since I was in the park. On the way back, I always stopped in the artist lounge to get either coffee or tea and a snack or two. That was a great touch having that available. Sunday was very hot and muggy so going to the lounge and sitting in the a/c was great.
I attended the awards on Sunday morning for my group. This is where I was able to meet Melissa, the new director of TRAF, and have so more free coffee and bagels. Also I mingled with a few artists and made some friends.
I just have to say I loved being in the show, being there period, enjoying the music, and just had a great time. It did not feel like work to me!! I was there for seven days and had great sales. It seemed everybody had a good show as well. And before I forget, I was impressed at the weather texts that I received during the show. They also stopped at each the tents the day before the "big bad wind/tornado' thing coming our way to inform us what was happening and what to do. They even used the artist lounge as a storage room for any breakables for the artists that was not staying in the hotel since the storm was going to happen over night. And thanks for everything that I read on this forum about tents and weather, I survived that terror! Also, I lowered my tent and added more weight since I could not tie down to anything where I was. Great learning experience!
Here is a picture of my booth and I photoshopped a bit since I needed a booth shot for an app last week! Any comments are welcome.
Thank you
AmyRenee
Comments
Congratulations AmyRenee on a great first show, having a good experience (minus the grumbly neighbour) is a big plus and good sales help too! And congratulations to you too Dawn - your work IS light and bright and would have been a lovely break from the dark themes to either side :)
Nice booth! Congrats on the good show, too.
Same to you! I also meant to say your booth shot was very nice as well. And again, thanks for all the info.
Hello Dawn! Yes it was great to be there for seven days. The only day that I did not do so great was Monday and that was because of the off and on rain. Still had $100 in sales though so I call it a win! When I applied I checked every possible date since I just wanted in the show. When I received the seven day slot, I was "O MY" seven days. I really did not want to be near the stage because I hate to scream at customers in the booth. But since I was the second booth in the row and far away, I got over it real fast!
BTW - nice booth shot! I wish I could have come back for the last three days to check out the new booths but I had another show Saturday and then my MIL 75 th birthday was Sunday. Do not forget about how exhausted my body was as well!!
I do have to agree with you about how there is not a lot said about the TRAF online. If I did not live here, I wondered how I would have known about it. But I gave a review about the show here and at the Sunshine site.
Good luck with your future shows!!
Oh, I forgot: I wanted to ask a question. Did you find it worth doing the entire 7 days? I went back and forth about whether to apply for that spot, and I'm curious as to whether you felt it made a difference for you to do that.
I'm attaching a photo of my booth as well. :-)
Hi, AmyRenee,
I was at the festival, too, on the weekend of June 14-16, only my spot was a few tents away in the South Walkway (224). I stayed with family about 45 minutes away and drove in every day, and we arrived on Wednesday. I found myself worrying about the artists who were there during the whole tornado watch, and I wondered how it was for you, so it's good to hear you made it through just fine.
I agree with absolutely everything you say about the festival--helpful volunteers, meeting Melissa (so nice), having access to snacks, coffee and water (I didn't know about the dedicated restroom though--something to keep in mind next year for sure), great sales, meeting great people. My neighbors were nice, very helpful in the info dept since I was a newbie (first art show ever), and I got a kick out of how the placed us next to one another. The booths on either side of me carried very "dark" goods--one had goth pewter jewelry and the other had photography of skeleton bones and other such imagery, and here I am with my impressionistic, colorful paintings of flowers and landscapes. People kept saying, "Wow! This is such a change from what I just saw. Talk about contrast! Did they do that on purpose?" I don't know if they did, but it provided great start-off talking points. I loved hearing feedback about my work, and I loved making sales even more. I covered all expenses (including buying the very expensive Flourish tent and mesh panels, which I was sooooo nervous about doing) and made a profit as well, so I was more than happy. Thanks for the tip about parking, which I'll remember next year if I get in again. I ended up in the Gateway garage because I didn't have enough time to research the lay of the land, and it was close, and other people didn't seem to know about it so much. Lucky for me it was Event Day all 3 days, so I got the cheaper $15 price. Don't know what I would have done otherwise. Really appreciate you filling us in, as I was surprised by the lack of info about this very big festival that most artists I met said was the best one going. I'll definitely want to go again, even though it's not necessarily the easiest to load in and out of. The promoters made up for that with their great organization of the process, though, so I'm not complaining. As you said, the exercise is good for us.
All best,
Dawn