National Shrimp Festival - Gulf Shores, AL

Set up and take down were well organized. The weather was perfect, 80's with low humidity. I was in the fine art section and the promoter was there during set up, parts of the show, and take down to handle problems. There were no booth sitters and this is a long show. They provided coffee, water and soft drinks, but you had to go to the hospitality tent to get them. The awards were generous and seemed to be well placed among the artists with jewelers receiving the most awards. The show has three sections - fine art, craft, and buy-sell. The fine art is the smallest section. Crowds were steady, although I was told not as high as previous years. This was my first time doing this show.

I am a painter and felt a little out of place here. I have only originals and I noticed all other painters had lots of prints and sold mostly prints (with some original sales). Also, most work was beach oriented, mine not so much. That said, I did sell enough to cover all expenses for the trip and make a little. I received three patron/purchase awards which helped. The patron/sponsors seemed to be more interested in original work. Otherwise, I sold mostly small canvases. If I do this show again, I will take prints, cards and other small items. I talked with some wonderful people that walked through my booth.

On either side of me were a high end jeweler and a metal worker who made fish and masks. Both had good shows and both won awards. I have a friend in the craft section that does pottery and she had a good show. All three of them have unique, good work. Most of the artists I talked to said they had an ok show, but sales were very slow. It was a mix of returning artists and new ones like me. One of the organizers told me the artists were telling her the same thing - sales were slow. This area took a big hit over the summer with the oil spill, so I don't know how to compare this to other years. My take is that crafts, low end art items and jewelry are the best sellers. It has a little bit of a carnival atmosphere.
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  • Beverly, Thanks for the information about you day. Congrats on the patron/purchase awards. It sounds like you had a good time. Sorry sales were slow...that seems to be happening all over with our economy. Hopefully that will start picking up for everyone. Have a great day.

    Sabrina
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