I attended the Syracuse Art and Crafts Festival this past weekend. All in all, I thought it was a good show. It is held in part of the old downtown area amongst many churches, and other public buildings on tree lined streets. It made for a very nice setting for an Art Festival.
There were a lot of artists participating and I am sure other AFI folks were there, but I just didn't find them.
The folks putting on the show recommend that you do not set up on Thursday, so Friday morning was a little hectic with parking, but there were police officers there to keep lanes open and keep everyone moving and getting ready. Because of the police officers help, everyone was cleared out and ready to go at the 10 AM starting time. Artist could submit their work Friday morning to be judged, and it didn't have to be submitted until 11:30 which was also nice because it allowed us to get the booth open and then have time to take the work to be judged. There were coffee and breakfast snacks as well as restrooms in the same building that the judging was taking place and that building was centrally located for most of the artists. I was fortunate enough to have some really talented artists booths around mine and in general the show had a lot of talented folks displaying.
The crowds on Friday were not very large as one would expect on a work day although it was clear that some folks came to the festival on their lunch breaks as many could be seen wearing their work id's.
For me the highlight of the weekend came Friday afternoon late when a young lady came to my booth and presented me with a ribbon of excellence for one of my pieces. I was really excited about that, but REALLY got excited when she also handed me a nice check to go with the ribbon. I had never received a ribbon at an art event before and was quite pleased that the judges thought enough of my natural edged walnut bench to award me the prize for woodworking.
Saturday the crowds came and it was a good day both in terms of sales and meeting new folks. I chatted with my neighbors and they were doing well, but most seemed to think that this year wasn't up to the quality of past years.
Sunday the rains came. It rained off and on for most of the morning and didn't finally start to clear off until about 2 PM. I had figured that Sunday was going to be a wash ( pun intended ) but early Sunday morning we had folks with umbrellas walking and looking at things. I sold a few items on Sunday and did better than I had expected.
Load out! OMG! The combination of the quaint tree lined (narrow) streets, everyone trying to leave at once, and the aforementioned police officers not being present made for a zoo of everyone trying to occupy the same spot at the same time. Actually, most of the artists were working together to help each other to make sure vehicles could clear each other and moving vehicles if that was needed. Sadly, there were a couple of artists that apparently never learned to share and parked their vehicles too far toward the middle of the road and absolutely refused to move or try to help others.
Other than the confusion of load out, in my opinion, this was a very well run event and one I hope to attend in the future. Maybe, it like most shows, was better in the past, but with todays economy, one has to do with what one is offered.
Comments
The best thing about that show used to be that it was held on the same weekend as the blues festival in Clinton Square, a few blocks away. When I got bored with lack of customers I could always ride my bicycle over there and hear some good music. The last time I did it they changed the schedule of the festival to the following weekend. So that was the last time I did it.
So sorry to hear about Abbey. Pets really do take pieces of our hearts and leave pieces of theirs.
I have done this show for a number of years and witnessed business after business close in the Syracuse area. While the show has held up pretty well over the years, it doesn't get as many good buying customers in years past. They put on a nice show with good quality and organization...I like the roaming street performers that they hire to make the show enjoyable for the public. My sales would have been on par with the past few years if it wasn't for the 4 hours of rain on Sunday. On a side note, it was a difficult weekend for my wife and I as we had to put down our 12 year old golden named Abbey on Thursday evening. After arriving at the campground, she became lethargic and I immediately contacted a local veterinarian to have her looked at. The unfortunate diagnosis forced us to make the difficult choice to put her down and prevent further suffering. Abbey was a frequent sight at the shows I attended and brought many smiles to the people who met her. She will be greatly missed. We also have a 6 year old golden who will have to carry on as my sole greater and roadie...
Oops! I forgot to congratulate you on your ribbon and check! Fantastic for you!
Good point about the economy. I've only been doing art fairs for a few years, so the "good old days" are more like folklore to me, so every show where we make a decent profit is gratefully accepted. Last year, I finally thought that things were turning around, but this year we've had a lot of shows where we really had to work hard at selling our art, and still, the margin of profit was less than before.