St. Louis Art Fair 2012

  This was my first time doing the St. Louis Art Fair, although living in town I have been going to it almost since its inception. I got to see some familiar faces from other fairs this year, as well as meet some fellow AFI'ers (including Connie) as well, which was fun.

  Typically in September it is still hot and humid, but with not much severe weather. Well this year it was the exact opposite. We were all keeping an eye on the weather as things got started on Friday. There were several systems that were moving through the area that could bring rain, but the day started off clear and sunny, and by early afternoon it looked like it may stay that way. But then reports that a big system was probably going to hit us started to come in, and by 4 the sky was starting to look kind of threatening.

   Many artists were hesitant to get everything set up, and just after 5 they came around and announced that the show was cancelled for Friday because a big weather system was bearing down on us. Sure enough within the hour the wind and rain hit hard. Most tents were fine but a few in one area did go down. I heard some people were upset about cancelling the show, but honestly even if it was just raining a bit or had turned out not to be as bad, no one is going to come to the show anyway. Even at 5 when we had actually opened no one was there because of the weather reports.

   The artists who did get damage managed to get things set back up with help from the fair staff and went on with the show on Saturday.

  The weather the rest of the weekend was great though. Sunny days in the 70's and 80's with a light breeze, couldn't have asked for better.

  The crowds were very good most of Saturday. I sold out all of my low price point things by the end of the day. Sunday started strong but peetered out kind of early I thought. I only talked to one person who said they were having a bad show. Most people I talked to said the show was good for them. My sales were good, although I was hoping to sell more of my bigger items.

  The show was ran very well. Everything was very well organized and seemed to run smoothly. The people that run the show are super friendly, helpful and approachable. I didn't hear any artists complaining about anything.

   St. Louis is of course one of the top tier shows, and I have never seen anything like crafty lawn ornaments or imported buy/sell knock offs, at least to my knowledge. I was as usual impressed with the quality of artists present. And I though the awards judging was well done also.

  Load in and out can be a bit tricky at times because the streets are a bit on the narrow side, so when the booths are set up there is just barely room for vehicles to get by with other vehicles parked along the curb. But everything seemed to go smoothly. I didn't see anyone blocking others out and unable to get around somehow.


  All in all I had a good time ans would definitely do it again.

 

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Comments

  • I second what Gregg had to say. An exceptionally well-run show, even in the face of a dangerous storm Friday evening as well as the graceful handling of the artists who suffered storm damage.

    Unfortunately, my sales were not what I might have hoped, though still good. The weekend prior, I was at Portland's "Art in the Pearl" (see my separate post/review) and sold so much it left me with relatively little to offer in St. Louis so it was not the fault of the show or crowd by any means.

    I'll definitely go back if the jury will have me!

  • Thanks for the report Gregg and so glad to hear you had a good show (hey, they can ALWAYS be better!)

  • Thanks, Greg, wish I could have been there to see this show.  Thanks for letting us know how things went for you.  It sounds like a great show.

  • Great meeting you there, Gregg. I always felt when we were in a show of this caliber that it made us humble, surrounded by so much good work. Your booth looked great and thanks for this report.

    Here is more info about the show: http://thecurrent-online.com/ae/artists-wide-strut-stuff-nationally...

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