Rained out at Atalaya

Atalaya is a well run, well organized art fair at Huntington Beach State Park just south of Myrtle Beach, SC. It offers a picturesque setting, cash awards, friendly and helpful staff, and though music and food are available they are not intrusive. What they were unable to provide, however, were buyers. Crowds were good on Friday, indeed, there was a long line waiting for entry when the show opened at noon. Everyone looked and commented on how nice the art was, but did not buy. All the artists said to one another, "They will be back tomorrow". They did come back on Saturday, the weather was clear and a little hot, but tolerable, buyers did not materialize. On Sunday, the weather forecast was for "scattered showers". The show opened at 10:00, and at 11:00 there was about an hour of moderate rain with some scattered lightning and thunder, just what you want in an outdoor show, right? The weather cleared, patchy sun came out, and a few brave souls came and looked around, but did not buy.

The show closed at 6:00 PM. At 6:05 PM the skies opened up and it rained buckets. The tear down process turned into a combination mud fest and wet T-shirt contest. In addition, we we got back to our room we found that it had rained so hard that we were also into money laundering because the cash inside my wallet was sopping wet! My cell phone died from getting soaked in my pants pocket! All in all, it was an experience I would have rather heard about than experienced!
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  • Update to my previous post: On Wednesday after the sale, we got a call from someone who said that she owned a gallery in the area and would be interested in representing us, did we sell wholesale? We replied that we did and discussed terms. She said she would come the next day, she did not and we wrote the whole thing off. Yesterday she called, said she had been delayed, could she come then, came and bought 23 pieces, paid cash on delivery in addition to coming and picking them up, (3hrs each way). So, you never know how a show may turn out!
  • I too was there, gross sales did not meet the "old days" I did the show many years ago. The set up is horrible, dolly around narrow walkways. Like having a too long couch going around corners, with my dolly. I drove 9 hours to get there, not worth the drive. I also question the judges choice, are all those credentials enough? Should the artist get the awards or folks that have their whole family make their art, with not a new design in the 24 years I have been in Florida. Beaded jewelry instead of the incredible metals from scratch? I did Virginia Beach years ago, for the first time, it was judged by seasoned artists, having done art shows for many years, just a thought.
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