This past weekend (June 27-28) I participated in my first outdoor art show. It was a lot of work, but I'm pleased with the experience. The show was in Northville, a nice little town about 15 miles west of Detroit, and not far from my home in Ann Arbor. It has a well developed Main Street area, which is where the art fair was held. Weather was good, although a bit windy on Sunday (I got to watch a canopy set up by Marvin Replacement Windows blow down the street 3 or 4 times before they gave up on it). My canopy help up just fine, but only because I've read enough here and on other forums to weigh the canopy down with about 150 lbs. of stuff. I also used my new ProPanels, which are a big improvement (at a huge increase in cost) over the wire grids I've use at indoor shows and outdoor markets. If you get ProPanels, be sure to pay the extra for the adjustable legs. It think it would very difficult to keep them stable without the adjustments.As it was my first time at the show, I can't compare it with previous years, but other, more seasoned exhibitors, told me that attendance and spending seemed to be down. Even the food vendors said that sales were down. This is not surprising in Michigan, where the economy is really bad. Sunday was a better day than Saturday for sales.I was very pleased with the attention my pictures attracted, and pretty happy with my sales. About 50 people asked for one of my business cards, and asked for my show schedule. I also really enjoyed talking with the people who stopped by my booth. Although there were a number of photographers at the show, the selection committee did a good job picking different photographic styles.I hoped that this show would help me figure out the right mixture of framed, matted and unframed/unmatted photos, but that didn't happen, since I sold some of each. Also, about 2/3 of my sales were on credit cards.The organizers of the show could have done a better job getting volunteers to cover for lunches and bathroom breaks, but I had a friend stop by on Saturday, and I had about 20 minutes of volunteer to cover my booth on Sunday, so I was fine.This was a good show to start with, as it was only two days and not real big. My next show is in Plymouth, Michigan, on July 10-12, and it's much bigger.Although I live in Ann Arbor, I'm not doing any of the fairs here as I didn't decide to do any art fairs until April of this year, and that was way past the application cut-off dates.This forum has been a huge help! Thanks for running it Connie, and thanks to all of the amazingly generous people who contribute their time and advice!Cheers.
Congrats on your first show, Terry. Northville is certainly a nice place to start. It gives you a lot of information for the next one. Good job on the weights. It was a windy day, aren't you glad you were ready? I remember our first show. I think we made an amazing sale of $150 and thought, "this is the life!"
Good luck at Plymouth. There will be lots of competition for the bucks and it is a big event, but with the right product you can do allright.
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Good luck at Plymouth. There will be lots of competition for the bucks and it is a big event, but with the right product you can do allright.