Past the Predictions - Rockport, TX Art Festival

With all the weather predictions indicating a disastrous outcome to the Rockport Art Festival, the hurricane played out just in time for a breezy but delightful event. Being my 1st time to show here, I was told that the crowds were down but most vendors had adequate though not spectacular sales. I saw a lot of driftwood bird sculptures leaving with customers and my neighbor sold a large painting along with several small ones. Mainly, all were just happy that they made expences and weren't washed out by storms.
The event is very well organized, water delivery is constant, and good food is served to vendors for a Friday night dinner buffet and Sunday morning taco breakfast. They even had air conditioned portable toilets! No complaints with their organization for the entire show. I paid extra for an electric outlet as I was told a fan was almost a have-to and I added some lights to my booth, but the outlet didn't work at first, and they immediately got in an electrician in and fixed it.
The only strange part of this show is the tent set up. Four long, narrow tents are arranged in a square. Vendors have one 8x10 half, the other half is used for a covered customer walkway, so your display must be freestanding. On the open side across from your booth, you are allowed to set up your tent facing the walkway. So if you take advantage of the extra space, you have to bring extra display equipment. You'd also want to bring plenty of tie-downs as you are right on the water's edge and the wind can get pretty stiff even without a hurricane.
Votes: 0
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of Art Fair Insiders to add comments!

Join Art Fair Insiders

Comments

  • It has a good reputation and some fine artists attending, but you're right; it can be hotter than all get out.  Most artists opt for electricity to have fans more than lights.  The wind can be stiff since the venue is right off the water, so you'd want to be prepared that way.  It does fall on a busy vacation weekend however, so people do attend.  The weather anywhere in Texas is always a gamble.  Best of luck and let me know how it goes if you attend.  I decided my season ends with May as I need time to create.

  • Hi Carol, I'm very new to Texas...was just in Rockport shooting whooping cranes and saw something about this show...how was the heat?  July seemed like a miserable time to put on an event.  Glad to hear sales were OK though...debating if I should apply.  Have been rejected by everything but Bayou at the moment.

  • Thanks for the report, Carol, and welcome to the blog world!

    When you do the tags, put phrases in " ", such as "Rockport, Texas", "art fair", etc.
This reply was deleted.