Once again I pitched my tent at the Stone Arch Art Festival in Minneapolis, MN. I've been a regular at this show for quite a few years and it's always been good enough to come back. But the last few years this show has really had some problems.

I noticed that the tents this year were really packed in more tightly than in years past. I can only guess that the show wants as many warm artist bodies as they can get. Of course there were some booth changes because of some oversites in planning.

It started at 11:00 (which was a little odd) and went to 7:00 on Saturday. I had some good sales (mostly regular customers) until around 3:00. Then it started to rain. Pour would be a better description. I had a good puddle in my tent. The rain lasted about an hour. After that a lot of the crowd did come back but sales were nill. 

The day Sunday started again at 11:00 and went until 5:00. Last year this show went much later on Sunday so I'm glad they changed it back to 5:00. Sales for me were really bad on Sunday. Again, tons of people! Oh, did I forget to mention that they also had a car show along the same street in back of the artists tents at the show? How could I forget! As long as I've done the show there has alway a very small row of classic cars toward the end of the show. No problem, I like to look at beautiful cars. This year the whole thing exploded and was maybe 4 times as big?! There were cars along the whole length of one end of the show (my end). If that wasn't bad enough we weren't informed that this was going to happen. The back of the booths were marked closer to the curb than usual. Once the cars were brought in and parked (against the curb) I had about 3 foot of space in the back of my tent for me, my helper, and all of my stuff, trying not to hit the car as I tried to do business. It didn't work well. The card didn't even pay anything to be there! I think most of the people there Sunday were just looking at the cars.

These were just the a few problems with this show. Last year someone new took over, and I think they are trying, but have a ways to go.

This is just my experience. Other areas of the show might have been much better. Some artists may have had much better sales. For me this show is just now worth going back. I'll maybe keep my ears open for changes and try it in a few years, but no guarantee.

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  • Sorry to hear that. I'm afraid this will turn into all crafts or just die completely. I haven't heard even one report of this being an ok show. I'm still waiting for the survey they said would be sent too.

  • I too want to love this show since this is basically local for me too.  My sales have been okay but not really great.  I too was not happy that the event was promoted as a music, food, cars, etc and nothing about the art! I am definitely reconsidering for next year.

  • I have loved this fair in the past and also had good sales. Thanks for commenting on the advertising of Stone Arch. I was wondering about that. It seems they are turning their backs on the vendors that fund this fair the most, the artists!

  • I want so much to love this art fair. It seems to have (had) a good reputation, and its founder, Ira Heilicher, was much loved and mourned when he passed away two years ago. I think that may be part of the problem with this fair - though I really can only speak from three years of experience, so... here are my own observations:

    Sales my first year (three years ago) were outstanding at the Stone Arch. I even had a relatively crappy booth location, and it rained a little, and still business boomed. I was sooo looking forward to applying again the next year, but then news came that Ira passed away and the fair was flat out cancelled. Very sad. THAT is the news that everybody heard - fair cancelled. Except that a few months later, a new benefactor picked it up and started promoting it again. Too bad nobody knew that!!

    Last year, sales were in the crapper (comparatively). Same location, similar weather, few buyers. So I figured I'd give another shot this year in case last year was a fluke. After all, I want to love this fair! I rushed in and purchased a better (more expensive) booth location on Main Street Business District.

    This year, the Saturday afternoon downpour did not help matters. I'm sure it hurt sales, unlike the milder sprinkles of years past. It was also annoying to be backed up to the loud, gasoline-drenched car show as well. But this year other troubling factors were becoming evident:

    1) ALL media coverage was promoting this fair as a music festival. (Oh yeah, and there's art too). Now that bristles me, particularly when I'm paying a considerably higher booth fee than I did three years ago (fees were jacked up when the new people took over).

    2) Music festivals draw crowds that want to kick back and drink beer and listen to music. They probably do not come to shell out big bucks on amazing artwork.

    3) I spoke with one of the promoters of this fair. Very nice lady - BUT, it sounds to me like this fair has become a corporate collector's item. This company manages quite a few fairs. It's their job to bring in the throngs, not to worry about what the throngs are looking at and spending money on. I also worry that the music and beer mentality of this show is scaring off real art enthusiasts.

    4) Every year for three years it has rained the weekend of the Stone Arch, including Sunday evening just as everyone is trying to load out. Curse?

    So, I don't know yet what I'm going to do next year. I may apply yet again, just because I want to love this fair. But I'm local, and probably wouldn't be able to justify travel expenses for it if I wasn't.

    Sorry for the loooong post... I actually just joined AFI in order to chime in on this conversation. Clearly, I have a lengthy opinion on the matter. :)

  • Thanks for giving a report from the other side of the show. Sorry you didn't do well either. I've already had a few shows before this one that turned out pretty good, so I'm hoping that the rest are also good!

  • Sorry to hear the show wasn't that great - for all involved by the sounds of it.

  • I was also at the show- down at the eastern end away from the cars which was nice.  I had all kinds of space around my booth. My studio is just up the river so I wish this was good show but I had always heard it was not that great.  Still I finally decided to try it and it was true- not great. People just weren't there to buy. I did have some sales over $60 that added up a bit but I have a lot of low end items too and usually these can make up for a bad show but they weren't selling either so the numbers just don't add up.  

    In the past my theory was that the Minnesota art buyers were still being very conservative with their money but I did have great luck at Edina earlier this month so I know they are out there just not at Stone Arch.

  • Sorry to hear about this show being bad for sales.  I do hope that this isn't a trend for the year!  Thanks for writing about the show.

  • I was the Stone Arch festival last week end. Tons of walkers  with a few talkers. My sales were off quite a bit also. Why?  I have no answer. Great location, tons of people, pretty desent food and sunny.

  • Yeah, the stuff I did sell was a lower price point. I sold one bracelet for $80, everything else was $40 or less.
    I know a few people who did okay, but most everyone I talked to said the sane thing, lots of people but no one buying.
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