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Yellow Daisy Festival

Posted by annie bogus on May 5, 2010 at 5:12pm
I am expressing my thoughts not for sour grapes, but for practicality and honesty’s sake. Having read many of the comments about the “Yellow Daisy Festival” in Stone Mountain GA, I decided to apply even though it’s a long distance drive for me. My rationale was that even if I don’t sell multi-thousands of dollars worth or artwork, at least if I sell enough to cover my expenses, it would be a nice little vacation. I have not yet ventured to the Atlanta GA region.

That being said, one slight hesitation I had was that with your application they take full payment for your booth. They cash your check or charge your card immediately. Application deadline is January 31. The show is in September. The jury reviews the applications in February and according to their application, acceptance and decline letters, along with refunds “will be mailed the first week in April”. I thought “wow, that’s a long time to hold my money”, but decided to apply anyway.

Well, it is now May 5. I received my decline letter May 4 – A full month late! My credit card still has not yet been credited for the $565 they took from me in February. They are not only a full month behind on their promise for reimbursement, but they will not speak with you on the phone. Each time I call I am routed to someone’s voice mail and they do not return the calls. And, oh yes, their message also indicates that " jury results will not be given over the phone"

It infuriates me to realize that they do not have any idea of (or don’t care) what a burden it is to the typical craft artist to have that kind of money tied up for such a long period of time. Not to mention the fact that your schedule for that week is in limbo until you get the results of their jury. There are 500 booths at this event. My guess is that they receive several thousand applications. That’s $565,000 for every thousand applications they receive. Boy would I like to have the interest on that money for just a few days! In my opinion, the management of this event takes advantage of all of their applicants and uses the excess funds and the interest gained on those funds to their advantage at our expense!

I will NEVER apply to this event again. Anyone interested in making an application should be aware that they do not give a hoot about their applicants. The fact is that this is a well sought after show. I am certain they receive SEVERAL THOUSAND APPLICATIONS. Lots of $$$$$$ (Millions) in their pocket! This money belongs to the applicants who are declined. Remember, they take your money in February, Jury in February, but do not send you a refund until you demand it! I haven’t even had an opportunity to demand a refund! They don't answer the phone!
BUYER BEWARE!
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Comments

  • annie bogus May 7, 2010 at 8:20am
    You are worth it! We all deserve to be treated well! (well, most of us :0))) I think you hit a stroke of luck when you neglected to apply. I too feel I was lucky that I was declined. What a waste of time and money that would have been especially since I have since learned of all the buy/sell!!! Like I said before, I will not apply to any show that insists on taking your money before you were juried in. That policy alone should have tipped me off to their greed!
  • Jan Raven May 6, 2010 at 11:28pm
    I did this show last year (but not this year!!) and agree with Annie; the reputation the show has for high sales may very well be due to the buy/sell people who have $20K in sales who send in Fast Audit forms to Sunshine Artist. Last year my neighbor and I passed the time by counting the mass-produced windmills that went by. We stopped after calculating that the vendor was making a minimum of $15k per day. Too depressing. The shipping boxes from the manufacturer were there, on site, so there was no question that these were not hand-made, but seeing a golf cart of show volunteers go by carrying two of the offending items made it quite clear to us that complaining would do not good. NEVER apply to that show!
  • annie bogus May 6, 2010 at 1:22pm
    Of course the buy/sell doesen't bother the promoters at Stone Mt. As long as they sell their spaces to whomever they make money. Remember, anyone can send in a fast audit to SA Mag, even the "made in (other than the US)" junkies. It's our job as artists to set the record straight. I personally am offended when a show promoter declares a show to be "juried", makes you go through hoops with photos, descriptions, etc. and you go to the show and are surrounded by buy/sell. I have in the past demanded and received a refund of my space fee because of the blatant buy/sell. Besides, my gripe was not due to the buy/sell because I was not there and never will be. It was clearly about the unfair practices of the show promoters.
  • R. C. Fulwiler May 6, 2010 at 12:54pm
    Annie, if you take that attitude you won't be applying to many shows! If what you and Burt say is true (and I don't doubt it) then the show should gain a terrible reputation and suffer for it. I only applied once and got in. The show for me (photography) was not very good, so I never applied again. The show has a lot of buy/sell, but I don't think that bothers them. I had a guy selling "fire starters" next to me....
  • annie bogus May 6, 2010 at 9:30am
    Thanks for the feed folks! I just wanted to let all of you know that my conversation (I was actually shouting) with the gal at Yellow D was successful. I shouted and demanded (arms flailing). The credit was issued to my card overnight. Whew! What an ordeal. This is the very last time I will ever give any show promoter full payment before they jury. That process is ludicrous! I should have known better. I do hope this gets around to other artists. Based on what I have been reading, my guess is that the only reason they are #1 in SA's rating is because all the buy/sell vendors love the place and make big bucks selling things they did not make and just remove from the plastic wrap to put on display. Thanks again for your comments.
  • annie bogus May 5, 2010 at 8:36pm
    That is my next step tomorrow. Stone MT finally returned my call late today. The "Finance Dept. will be processing the credits today. I should see the credit within two to three days". Yeah! The check's in the mail scenario. I will check my statement in the morning. If the credit is not there, the bank will get a call. Thank goodness I used the card and not sent a check!!!!!. I would be waiting till the cows come home I'm sure.
  • Alison Thomas May 5, 2010 at 7:53pm
    Seems like there would be good justification for calling your credit card company and seeing if you can do a chargeback.
  • Douglas Farrar May 5, 2010 at 7:44pm
    And Stone Mountain Park is run by Silver Dollar Corporation.
  • annie bogus May 5, 2010 at 7:00pm
    Stone Mountain Park runs this event.
  • annie bogus May 5, 2010 at 6:57pm
    Thanks for your comments Bert. I wonder how many others have been dooped! How in heaven's name do they keep getting away with this. Perhaps because some of us are so eager to get into "a big one" that we forget to be prudent. Really now, why did I ever agree to let them take my money. There is no other show I know of that makes this demand. All others I have dealt with will ask for your check when they send out the acceptance letter. Hard lessons learned.
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