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2016 Summer Shade Festival, Atlanta, GA
August 27-28, Grant Park

This show had me in such high hopes. Professionally done Artist Handbook, emailed out in plenty of time. Option to purchase an ad in the Festival Guide.

There was smooth check-in, excellent communication with the volunteers, and smooth load-in. The artists around me were excellent, in my opinion. Good proximity to the port-a-johns, an "intersection" of the sidewalks, and a local craft beer tent. I was near the center of the intersecting sidewalks, on "The Loop," so I hoped it was a good spot. I had paid extra for an ad, and to be in the juried section of the show.

What I didn't realize until walking around a bit was the real scale of this show. It had a meandering layout of artists, through sidewalks of the park, leading to three separate stages where the food areas were located. So once someone passes your booth, they likely weren't coming back. One of my biggest competitors was ten booths away from mine. I never found the artist hospitality tent.

I did my setup, buttoned up, and gave a neighboring artist (who had traveled from Guatemala for this show and one more) a ride to the train station.

The next morning, I did some wandering around to the artists that were open, bought a new mug, and a small new art piece for my wall. After all, I'd recoup the costs today, right?

Wrong. A very slow start to the show, with only three small sales by 2 pm. Lots of people walking by, on their way to the stages. Small burst of sales from 3-4, then nothing until I closed at 8pm. I again gave my neighbor artist a ride to the station.

The next morning, the artists are talking. No one has seen the Festival Guide we bought ads for, nor did we see any of the judges or talk to any at all. It turns out it was only digital, viewable on the festival's facebook page... if you knew where to look for it. The artists who were there the previous year said that they had doubled the size of the artist section this year.

The second and last day totaled less than $100. Total for the entire weekend was around $700. Everyone said the same, that sales were dismal. The show ends at 7pm, and we start breaking down. They delay the artists getting in until all the food trucks can get out -- hey, at least they made money this weekend.

Smooth load-out, and well coordinated exit. Time to drive home. Peanut butter for dinner.

The high point for me for this show was my artist neighbor. His art was amazing, and fascinating stories about his small village and his travels. All of his art was painted on hand-woven cloth, made by his mother. I ended up trading for one of his paintings that depicted "market day" in his village and bought a scarf for my wife that his mother wove.

I honestly hate writing a bad review for a show that was this well planned. The people were there, but not to buy art.

Pros:
Good load in
Good load out
Variety of artists
Music and alcohol
Water for artists

October 14-16
Sacramento, CA
Indoors at the Sacramento Convention Center
presented by White Buffalo Gallery
200 Artists
Deadline: September 14

Fees: no application fee

1. Booth fee $800, fine artists booths half off, $400 for 10x10 exhibitor booth
2. half booths available for $200
3. a gallery exhibit area set up, you can submit work to the juried art contest if you do not want to have a booth, $20 per piece if accepted.

We are doing something a bit different in fusing the fine art and tattoo festival together, looking to create a new platform for Northern California's most innovative and cutting edge artists in a similar vein as the LA Art Show and Think Space. Northern California is full of incredible artists and we want to connect artist and collector. We are geared toward the hip new generation beginning to truly value and collect art. Our Mission is to connect artist and collector.

Open to all artists. It is a wonderful opportunity to gain exposure for your work and to sell originals and prints to thousands of art collectors, as well as creating art live and to interact with the public. We will have art workshops for all levels and all ages. This show is about inspiring each other and especially the new generations of artists. It is a time to come together and share our passion and love of art.

Our event has been 3 years in the making. If you feel you have something to share and teach we would love to talk about setting up a workshop/seminar with you.

Marketing: 

• billboards on major freeways in Northern California, on HWY 80 in Berkley, Business 80 in Sacramento and HWY 99 in Stockton.
• running ads in major art magazines Juxtapoz, Artslant, E-Volve
• We have been promoting this event in radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, online in event listings and on social media. 
• We will be having ticket giveaways on local radio and social media raffles as we build up to the event date in Oct. 

October 15
Sugar Hill, Georgia
Presented by:  City of Sugar Hill
40 Artists
Deadline:  Sept. 8

Application/Booth Fee: $100

The art element of Sugar Rush will be located on our turf lawn with tents lined along sidewalks, across from the food trucks (guaranteed traffic!). We want artists to be able to feature their work and make money from their work.  We only charge an application/booth fee of $100 total.

Last year we did an indoor, exhibit  style, juried art show.  We had 40 participants and a few sales.  Foot traffic was not as great because guests had to come inside City Hall to view the work.  This year we are putting the artists outside in the center of the party. Different from last year, we will also have a pottery glazing area, candy stations pumpkin painting and cupcake decoration in other areas.

We are located in between two major highways and in the middle of one of the fastest growing counties in the county.  We expect over 10,000 people this ear, as we had that many last year.  We get a lot of road traffic as well as a great, active community!

Some of our marketing: 

Apply:  http://cityofsugarhill.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2016-Sugar-Rush-Artist-Vendor-Application-1.pdf
Learn more:  www.thebowlatsugarhill.com or www.cityofsugarhill.com 
Contact:  Megan Carnell, mcarnell@cityofsugarhill.com, (770)945-6716

This was the 13th consecutive year that I have done this show.  Golden is the county seat for Jefferson County whose motto is “Gateway to the Rocky Mountains”.  Golden is known for the Colorado School of Mines and the Coors Brewery.  The weekend of the art show is the time that students are moving into dorms.

The show is set up for three blocks along Eleventh Street.  Food courts were at both ends of the show and a music stage where beer was sold was at the east end.  The Golden Chamber of Commerce manages the event.  This was the 26th year of the Golden Fine Arts Festival. In my opinion, the show is successful with buyers in attendance because it is run by local business people who understand EFFECTIVE advertising and marketing.  The jury fee is $30 and 10’X10’ booth fee is $390. Application is made with Zapp.  Local merchants support $1800 in awards.

SET UP & TAKE DOWN: Both are usually easy, but this year their seemed to be less control.  Security tries to keep the center lane of the street open and you can drive to your booth location. I did not have any problems as I completely unload and remove vehicle before setting up and completely knock down before bringing the Suburban in to load up.  Other artists had problems with vehicles with trailers taking up space in front of their booths for several hours both during set up and takedown, making their work difficult.  No vehicles are to come on the street until 5:30 or half an hour after the show closes, but there were vehicles on the street at 5:10.  Most booths have space behind them but some have bushes with only a gutter width.

ATTENDANCE: The Chamber states that the attendance is upwards of 30,000.  The event is well publicized in the Denver metro area and online in advance of the show.  People show up an hour ahead of the official opening time of 10:00am and start buying, and the crowd is there until closing time at 5:00pm both days.   

AMENITIES: The artist reception this year was at the Briarwood Inn. Shuttle service for artists was provided by the Golden High School. Appetizers and complimentary beer and wine were served.  I did not attend as we were commuting to care for a couple geriatric dogs.  The show provided morning bagels and coffee, and sandwiches and chips.  There was complimentary water and booth sitters, and morning coffee with pastries.  There were porta-pots at the ends of the booths. 

SALES: My sales at this show have consistently been in the $3K-$5K range and I went over $5K this year.  This year’s sales were up $336   from last year.  My average sale was $63 and 82 sales ranged from $3 bandanas, from the sets for napkin rings, to a $328 saddle bag and suspender sale.  The best sellers were belts in the $45-$85 range with some $200 belts, holsters, and cases thrown in.  The rest were a mix of gun leathers, dog tack, horse tack and personal leather goods.  I have a bunch of special orders to do, and I discussed even more with locals who may order later (mostly gun leathers).  I have some custom belts to make for buckle sets for the Coors family.  Comments on sales from other artists were generally positive.

WEATHER: Friday was cool with late afternoon and overnight rain.  Saturday and Sunday were in the mid to high 80’s.

GENERAL: Nuts and bolts are in Art Show Reviews on this site.  There was a good mix of high quality art and absolutely no buy/sell. There was also a good mix of out-of-state artists with the Colorado crowd.   Artists at other shows have commented that it is difficult to get into the Golden show. The tax rate was 7.5% and is paid after the show.

     There were some changes this year. The site of the reception was changed and a hotel that provided a break room and lunch in the past was absent.  A city tax license and $50 tax deposit was required and taxes were paid after the show.  There was no information in the artist packet on sales tax rate or post show payment other than the city tax.  There were four other taxes that needed to be paid to Colorado Department of Revenue but no information was provided for artist, including those from out-of-state. The CDR website is not user friendly for finding the tax rates for State, County and two special taxing districts.

     The live music Saturday was obnoxiously loud and led to lost sales because artist could not communicate with clients even farther down the street.  Control was spotty Saturday, but management got the volume under control by Sunday.

PHOTOS: The photos were taken Saturday morning at 10:05, five minutes after the show officially opened and the crowds were the same until 5:00 pm Sunday. 

Tuesday, August 30, 5 pm ET

Congratulations, you are ready to go at one of "the biggies." Now the tension builds as the judges approach your booth. Will you win an award? Will you be re-invited (the biggest award of all)? Building continuity at one of the top shows is one of the secrets of success in the art fair business.

• We discuss how judges are chosen for the application jury and if those same jurors are the "street jury." 
• Are the identities of the judges published in advance?
• What directions are these street jurors given in choosing the winners?
• Do they jury secretly? Do they introduce themselves to the artists?
• What happens when the weather or crowds interferes with the judges viewing?
• Should a show rotate the award winners from one year to the next?

Our guests will be Sharon McAllister, Executive Director of ArtFest Fort Myers in Florida, Rick Bryant from the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in State College and Les Slesnick an art fair industry advocate and former art fair exhibitor.

Click here to listen live: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/artfairs/2016/08/30/judges-jurying-awards-at-art-festivals

Do you have questions on this topic? Please put them in the comments below. 

Yep. The belly dancers show up on Sunday and captivate a huge audience with their rhythmic swaying for a solid hour. They are part of the show.

It is held in a beautiful treed park right on the edge of downtown Lexington. All booths are on grass and you can stake down. They are scrimmy about giving you room on your sides (unless you pay for a corner). Most people have room for a rear awning and storage. It is a mellow Friday setup with the show on Sat. And Sunday. Decent hours with show ending at 6pm, Sat.m and 5pm on Sunday.

This year the weekend forecast was horrible with rain and thunderstorms predicted for 80% on Sat and 40% on Sunday. Thankfully, we lucked out. We had a few pissy,short showers early on Sat. And then clouds the rest of the day. It finally poured buckets around closing. So we lucked out. Because of the weather forecast, and the fact that it did rain everywhere except in the park, crowds were not at their fullest. Still, there were plenty of people and a lot of sales, mostly low end, were happening. Sunday morn we had pissy showers until about eleven. Then the sun came out along with a cooling breeze which in turn brought out good crowds.

Lexington is both a university town and a horse-breeding town, So you have lots of young couples and wealthy elders. Not a bad mix. I make more sales to young people here than anywhere else. And, I do 35 shows a year all over the country. And, I have been doing them for 42 years. I usually always make decent profit. In fact I can only recall less than ten shows where I lost money at, out of more than 1400 I have done.

This year was my best ever at Woodlands in the last seven years, It helps that I have a loyal following who seems to keep buying from me even if my work changes. For those of you who may not know, I had open heart surgery (quad bypass, one new valve and a band around another) four years ago. So along with a new body (hell of a way to lose 40 pounds when they rip you open with a saw) came a new body of work--my black and white photos hand colored using acrylic, not watercolor. They are working quite well and I am making a decent living at it in spite of the hard times we are going through. What I am saying is if you want to succeed in our biz you have to create your own niche market so that you stand out from the herd.

At this show there were at least ten photographers with outstanding European images. The trouble is that they all looked fairly alike. And there are only so many buyers for those images, so some prospered while others died or barely made a small profit.

Back to the show. People here, tend to buy traditional and conservative. It is a good market for crafts like metal, clay and leather. Glass, not as great. There are a ton of jewelers from all ends of the spectrum. Again, some do well while others languish. If there is one valid negative about this show it is the fact it is too large for the population it serves. Close to 400 exhibitors. It is run by the local arts association and they depend on it to make money to keep them running. So you can see they are not going to cut back the number of artists.

One other negative here also. The art league puts up pop up canopies for its sponsors who are intermingled with artists booths. Trouble is they do not anchor them. I pointed this out to the show director on Friday, because I had such a tent beside me, unanchored. I told him if a big wind came along the canopy could damage mine and others. He shrugged me off and said he would take care of it. He never did. Those tents were unanchored the entire show. That is just plain dumb. The Lexington Art League barely gets by and they do not need a liability issue like that. Are you listening to me, Mark, the director?

Sunday the crowd started buying by noon. I saw lots of packages in people's arms. Not all exhibitors were happy. But that is show biz. In fact I do not know of any show where 90 per cent of artists are happy. For an August show this is a decent one where you can make a decent paycheck. Hotel rates are very reasonable here. Food is varied and decently priced. You can drink great bourbons everywhere. Had a few great ones but I passed on the 24 year old Papys, I had a great show, but not that great.

Well, there it is kiddos. Hope you gleaned some nuggets of wisdom which will help you make an informed decision about this show. I tell you one thing, this show beats the hell out of the new Cleveland Flats show. But that is topic to be addressed in the future.

I'm not the best with making time to review shows, but since this was the 1st year for this show I figured it would be good to write one. 

I just got back from the Flats Festival of the Arts in Cleveland Ohio (Aug 18-22).  Although it wasn't a smashing show for me (or anyone else that I heard of) I do have hope for it.  After all, this was the first year for this show, so you have to give it a bit of a handicap.  Here's the details.

LOCATION: An absolutely GORGEOUS venue called the Flats East Bank.  This used to be a crappy industrial area but has recently been renovated and turned into this really trendy area.  There are very expensive apartments in the middle of the site (think $1000/mo for a 600 sq/ft apartment up to $4000), lots of cool restaurants (expensive though, like $14 for mac n cheese), night clubs, and the like.  Most people walking around were dressed in really nice clothes and at least looked like they had money especially when getting off their million dollar yachts, but apparently they spent all their money on their $500 shoes or their $4000 rent because most didn't seem to want to buy art.  My booth was backed up to the river and all weekend I had beautiful boats and yachts sailing behind me.  It was definitely the best view I've had at a show.  I'll try to attach some pics I took with my phone later.

HOURS:  Grueling.  The worst hours I've had at any show.  Setup Thursday then the show hours are Thursday night 6:30-8:30, Friday and Saturday 11a-10p (!!!!) and Sunday 11a-5p.  30 hours!  Plus setup time, that's a full friggin work week not even including the drive. Although they say this will be revised next year and there will be no Thursday show.  I'm hoping they will shorten Friday to starting at 5 or 6.  There's no need to sit there while everyone is still at work.  The hotels in the area are also expensive, so shortening it another day would definitely help with expenses for those of us who had to pay for 3 nights in a hotel and parking for 3 nights too.

SETUP:  Was supposed to be staggered.  We got our booth assignments like the week before the show with our setup information.  Each booth number had a setup time.  Mine was the last group at 1:30.  Supposedly you had 2 hours to get in, unload, and move your car out.  That was definitely not enforced.  When I got there I had to drive around 3 times to finally find a spot about 15 booths away from my location, and hand carry most of my booth over (no dolly since we were supposed to be staggered so we could be close) until someone finally moved.

ARTIST PARKING:  This was I think the craziest thing for me. I talked to Scott, the Director, and he said that originally the artists were supposed to be in a parking lot right by the show site but the owners of the site or whoever moved us to another lot, and then another lot farther away, and finally we were put across the river.  And although I could see the parking lot right across the river from my booth, to drive there took quite a few turns and a lot of time, especially in traffic.  It was at least free for artists, and there were two shuttles running back and forth for artists, but when there are 120 artists all arriving at the same time and leaving at the same time, you could end up waiting for a long time.  Once it took me 45 minutes between waiting my turn for the shuttle, being stuck in traffic, and then walking to my booth.  One artist who was running late did find a creative way to get to show though... she asked the water sport rental guys to help and one brought her over on a jet ski lol.  You could be valet parked in a lot right by the site, but it was $10/day.  $40 extra expense was too steep for me considering my hotel expenses and I was already paying $18/night parking at the hotel.  Maybe next year I'll just rent a boat and dock behind my tent ;).

WEATHER:  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were hot with occasional downpours, but generally pretty nice.  Sunday was cooler in the 70s and beautiful.

ATTENDANCE: Attendance was ok considering it was the first time for the show and they were charging a $10 entrance fee.  The fee went to helping Cleveland School of the Arts and H.E.L.P.  But in my mind, it should have just been a donation bucket at the entrance, not $10 per person for a first year show.  Maybe once you're established you can get away with that, but I saw a lot of people turn away Friday when I was waiting for a shuttle after they heard about the fee.  The bad thing is that it couldn't really be monitored correctly. Because there were restaurants and homes within the show site, people would be given yellow or green wrist bands if they had paid to see the show, or pink or orange if they said they were just going in for a restaurant.  Do you know how many people I saw walking around with pink or orange wrist bands... or none!  It was hard enough to catch everyone coming in the gates, but impossible to regulate everyone coming in via boats. I saw several attendees complain on the Facebook page about having to pay and then seeing people walking around who didn't.  One girl said she wouldn't return again due to it. I think the fee strategy needs to be rethought. 

From what I could tell, they did a lot of advertising around the area though.  I give them credit for that.  Attendance was almost zero Thursday night.  The show was running alongside another charity event called Bites, Booze, and Boogie.  I think there was some confusion in that advertising where everyone thought you had to attend B.B.B. to get into the show (tickets for that event started at $200) so I don't think many people knew they could come.  Very slow during the day Friday but then the crowds really started to come out in the evening, although they were mainly there for the clubs or to drink on the pier.  Saturday was alright, again picked up in the evening.  Sunday I thought attendance was good.  It was the only day that I really felt good about the crowd energy.  Maybe it was mainly due to the nice 75 degree weather though.

SALES:  Not great but not terrible.  I made money at least.  I sold mainly prints and two originals, but the originals were from some of my Boston Mills regulars who specifically came out due to my mailing list.  If it hadn't been for them, Id be singing a different tune.  Sunday there was good energy as I said, and I thought I sold a $1400 painting twice, but they didn't pop.  *sigh*.  One painter friend did about $900 total, my neighbor only sold one or two smaller photographs but had leads on possibly two bigger ones, my neighbor across from me did end up selling a larger painting for $1800 I think, and one of my fuse glass artist friends had her single best day ever Saturday but almost nothing the other days.  I heard a lot of grumbling Saturday, but Sunday I saw quite a few larger pieces being carried out, so maybe by Sunday close more artists were leaving happy.  I hope so. 

THE BOTTOM LINE:  I really want this show to do well and continue to grow.  Its a beautiful venue and one I'd like to be able to look forward to doing.  I think it has great potential once the kinks are worked out and there is more organization.  Probably will just take a few years to build up a following.  I like the director and I think I will give it another shot or two, especially depending on what changes are made going forward to the hours/organization.

Uptown Art Fair, Minneapolis, MN, Aug. 5-7

Jury fee: $40; Booth fee: $550; 350 artists

Friday, 12-8; Saturday, 10-8; Sunday, 10-5 T

his was my first year at Uptown, and it was a long way for me to go for a single show (I live in Virginia). But it was a beautiful show, well-organized and structured, and I had a successful show, well worth my time and the expense.

I'm an oil painter, with pieces ranging from $100 to $4500. Many of my paintings are large. Not knowing anything about Minneapolis or the set-up of the show, I didn't know what to choose when the organizers asked for our location preference. I asked for a street location first, and ended up getting a location on the mall.

At first, I was bummed, but as the show played out, I was really glad that I ended up there. The street part of the show is on Hennepin Avenue, a busy street in the center of Uptown. I believe booths there were set up cheek to jowl, and I don't know if they faced the sidewalk or the street, which was closed to traffic. I do know that set-up on Hennepin was Friday morning, with the show opening Friday at noon. On the mall, set-up was Thursday afternoon.

The mall is a grassy strip between two one-way streets. Hennepin Avenue is at one end of the mall; the other ends at a road that circles a lake. I was near that end. Set-up was easy, storage was pretty much unlimited.

Registration is inside a building on Hennepin, and registration times are assigned. I was there early, and they did let me register early. The organizers were very nice, and had already helped me with a series of question.

Set-up on the mall was in shifts. The first shift, which included me, was for people who had tents on the grassy area between the two streets. I had a spot that ended up as a de facto corner, as I was beside a tree. I pulled up, and found that my neighbor had parked in the spot directly across from my van, so I'd have to haul my crap farther, and probably dolly. I decided to turn the van around, and at least get the back doors closer to my spot. My neighbor, seeing me do this, volunteered to trade spots with me, if I'd help her back up. I am a believer in omens and took Stephanie's generosity to be a good one.

Because of what I'd heard about vandalism at this show, I set up my tent but didn't put any of my art in it. I got my van out in time for the second shift, which was artists setting up booths in the street (where we had parked), facing the grassy strip.

Friday morning, I arrived early, set up my art and went off to find my parking spot in the Sons of Norway lot. I'd paid $55 for this; it was about a half a mile away. I am 60, am lazy and have bad knees, and while it was an OK walk in the morning, by 8 p.m., it felt like a long, long walk. My day started well with a couple who had found my art on the show's website (http://uptownartfair.com/), found me on the mall, came in and bought a $1,000 painting. Yay!

I sold four more paintings during the show and also got a commission, so it was a profitable weekend for me.

In spite of everything I'd heard about vandalism at the show, I decided to leave my work overnight. I spoke to painter friends who had done the show before. I spoke to police officers, who assured me that there were more officers on patrol, and showed me that they'd brought in huge lights to illuminate the mall.

I took my paintings off the outside walls, ziptied all my tent zippers, and then ziptied everything to uprights or stabars, and moved furniture to make it harder for someone to slip underneath. I had no problems, and heard of no problems. One officer said that the year that there had been the most vandalism was the year that a bridge collapsed, and all police were attending that disaster. Also he told me that he had approached the show organizers and helped them restructure the security plan.

On Saturday morning, I was able to get a very good parking space within dollying distance from my tent. Parking is a real problem with this show, and I felt like I'd been given a gift. I left my van there Saturday night, and took an Uber car to and from my Air B&B. This parking place was a real blessing when it came to take-down.

Mystic Outdoor Art Festival
Mystic, CT, Aug. 13-14
Jury fee $30 (I think), Booth fee $250; about 250 artists.
Put on by the Mystic Chamber of Commerce -https://www.mysticchamber.org/e…/mystic-outdoor-art-festival

This was my seventh year doing the Mystic Art Festival. The show has been good to me in the past, and was good to me again this year, astonishing me and leaving me very grateful.

I'm an painter, with pieces ranging from $100 to $4500. I grew up in the Mystic area, and worked there, and have friends and family there. It was where I began to grow my collector base, as well.

I have always had a very good spot in the show, outside of the main area, on the corner of a side street with no one across from me. I believe this has helped me, too.

Last year, one of the show's organizers was hit by an artist driving in early Saturday morning during set-up. She lived, but was in the hospital for a while, I understand. That accident made police demand that the show change the set-up it's had for its 58 or so years.

Usually, booths line both sides of Main Street, facing the sidewalk, and traffic flows in the middle. ("Flows" is not quite the right word, as there's a drawbridge in the middle of town, and it goes up every five minutes or so, bringing traffic to a complete halt).

This year, they took booths off one side of Main Street west of the bridge, and put all those booths on Holmes Street, on the east side of the bridge. They thinned the booths on the east side of the bridge, as well. I'm sure this caused confusion for artists and fair-goers alike.

Set-up is Saturday morning, and it's never fun. Storage varies. Some booths have tons, some have hardly any. The show seems to always take place on the hottest weekend of the summer, and this year was no exception. It was in the upper 90s both days, with sweltering humidity. Ambulances went out several times for people who had collapsed.

Parking is always difficult. I rented a space from a small deli across from my booth. There are lots throughout town where you can pay to park, but if you're looking to park for free, you might have to look for quite a while.

The show is typically jammed. People come from all over New England to go to this show, and for many, it is the high point of their summer vacation. This year, traffic was way, way down - but mostly what was missing were people who weren't going to buy anything anyways. There were almost no little kids, almost no one with infants in strollers (why do they do that???) and very few people with dogs.

I sold six paintings. Half were small, but the other half were large, including a $2000 cowscape bought by a person who was at her first art show. The artist beside me, who makes beautiful and unusual dioramas with hand-carved birds, also had a good show. A fabulous photographer next to her bombed out, however, barely making his booth fee - and last year, he won a ribbon. A jeweler who is a good friend also had a crappy show.

There's another odd thing about this show, and that is that private businesses rent space in their parking lots to artists and crafters who either didn't get in to the main show, or didn't even try. This adds a strange unevenness to the show, which already has some fairly rocky displays and art. Much of the art and many of the displays in these areas are very good, but some are not so good.

Someone told me this year the artists were mostly painters and photographers. I didn't get away from my booth long enough to know whether this was true. I also heard that a number of booths were vandalized - the sides cut. There are cops all over the place, day and night at 

I only added the upper Midwest part of the title because you'll want to bring all your gear to this event, if you are admitted, so driving will certainly be easier.

Here's the deal: I'm a founding member of an event in its 5th year. It is absolutely unique in format, and there are two openings available. The event is called Retreat on the Rocks. It takes place on the shore of Lake Superior, always coinciding with the annual, 1-day only lighting of Split Rock Lighthouse. That time frame always surrounds November 10th. The only thing we have as a "given" on the schedule is shooting the lighthouse for the 90 minutes that it's lit up, on Nov. 10th. 

What is it? It's a gathering of 6-8 photographers for 3-4 days, who live together in a luxury home, shoot photos together at any and all hours of the day, traveling each day up and down the coastline of Lake Superior from Duluth to the Canadian border; we visit, teach each other, learn from each other, and just generally geek out on photography. Why is this so unique? Because there are no instructors. No students, no schedule, no rules. It defies explanation, but if you love photography, have a solid skill set, and relish the idea of immersing yourself in the medium, I can tell you there is nothing like this experience. 

The event was founded and is coordinated by Dennis Zerwas, Jr. In our core group, we have wedding shooters, two portrait guys, an architectural shooter, sports, landscape, a travel guy, all of it. Each year we try to add 1-2 new bodies to the mix. Male or female, does not matter. You will be expected to be sociable and bring something to the table. Knowledge, conversation, passion, experiences, ideas...all are welcomed and expected. 

This is a photographic free-for-all, and we have an absolute blast. If you think this is for you, respond here  and I'll get you in touch with Dennis. Cost is about $500. Food is a shared effort, as is cooking. We form a community for those few days. Dates are 11/9- 11/13. You can leave whenever you need to, arrival is the evening of the 9th of November. 

I’ve been exhibiting in art fairs off and on for about 40 years, but only in the past ten years or so have I jumped into this crazy business with both feet. During these recent years I’ve had some modest success and been able to make a comfortable living at it. I’ve been able to fulfill a lifelong dream of making a living at being a professional artist. I know, however, that as I get older it will be more difficult to withstand the physical demands and uncertainties of the art fair circuit.

I currently have my work in six galleries around Michigan (I live in Saugatuck) and I’m always on the lookout for more representation. The galleries and my website are providing more of my income every year, but they don’t come close to the income that art fairs generate for me. (I’m a digital artist exhibiting limited edition prints of my surrealistic take on environmental issues.)

I’ve also had some modest success in the gallery business when I opened a gallery in Saugatuck for a short period of time a few years ago. I gave up the gallery for a number of reasons. Number one was that I was unable to maintain hours manning the gallery as well as exhibit on weekends at art fairs. And, the gallery did not provide enough revenue for me to hire staff while I was away on those busy summer weekends. 

Now I have an opportunity to re-enter the gallery business again. I exhibit my work at Mixed Media Gallery in Douglas, Michigan, currently by highest grossing art gallery. Mixed Media has an adjoining gallery space that will become available next spring. This space is large and has a full length basement for storage as well. My quandary is that I’m not willing or able to man the gallery during those busy and profitable summer months when I will be out on the streets doing art fairs (or, alternately, spending quality time with my grandchildren). 

Downtown Douglas is quiet compared to Saugatuck, the town across the Kalamazoo River bridge. But Douglas is becoming a “destination” art gallery town with the main businesses being the Petter Gallery, Water Street Gallery, the Button Gallery, LaFontsee Gallery and Mixed Media, where I exhibit. I’m thinking it might be fun and profitable to become part of that mix in Douglas.

I’m still juggling numbers, but here’s how it could work for me. I will sign the lease on the gallery space and commit to paying the lions share of the rent and utilities. I’ll find three more (good) artists who will exhibit and commit to manning the gallery in return for keeping the lions share of revenue from sales of their own work. I’m not sure how many artists out there will think this is a good idea, but I’m curious and would like to find out. I guess the problem is the same with all art fair artists. They want to be out on the street selling their work on those busy summer weekends.

Last weekend's Kimball Arts Festival was visited by thieves who came in the night and burglarized several tents. 

Police say sometime between 1am and 6am Sunday a person, or group of people, burglarized seven booths. Two of the items stolen were hand-carved wooden chairs valued at $11,000. 
"I found out about it as I was walking down the street this morning 39 back to my booth someone had some chairs stolen," said Ron Benoit of Woodensound Fine Woodworking.

They weren't Benoit's chairs, but the artist in the booth next to his. Along with the two chairs, several art pieces and a handmade jacket were stolen. A sculpture was also vandalized.

This is a long running and highly respected festival.

Learn more here: http://www.good4utah.com/news/top-stories/over-20k-in-art-stolen-from-park-city-festival#.V7NuIkzpJzQ.facebook

What precautions do you take to prevent this from happening to you?

November 5 & 6
Atlanta, Georgia
Presented by: The Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces
200 Artists
Deadline: August 26

Application Fee: $25-$35; Booth Fee: $300-$375

The Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces is proud to announce the 7th Annual Chastain Park Arts Festival.  Named Best Self Magazine's "Best Local Festival," the Chastain Park Arts Festival will transform the park into an outdoor art gallery to the backdrop of vibrant fall hues. This  two-day event will feature up to 200 fine local and regional artists and artisans along tree lined Park Drive in Chastain Park. This is definitely and event that you do not want to miss!

Visitors will enjoy fine art and crafts, a children's area and local food andbeverage concessions including the "gourmet" food trucks.  Local acoustic musicians will enliven the atmosphere in addition to live art demonstrations. This event is organized by the Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces and volunteer artists.  Best of all, it's entirely free to attend!

The Chastain Park area is rich with one of the largest and most enthusiastic art buying communities in the Atlanta area.  More than 50,000 visitors are expected over the weekend to view the many painters, photographers, sculptors, leather and metal craft persons, glass blowers, jewelers and more! The Festival will also offer visitors the opportunity to view artist demonstrations, enjoy live entertainment, participate in hand-on art activities, and enjoy festival foods and beverages.

The festival benefits a scholarship fun for local artists administered by the Georgia Foundation for Public Spaces.  

Last year was the first time I tried this show. It wasn't spectacular but there was a decent return for the effort and sales were worthwhile enough to make a return trip.

It's a one day show put on by the local arts organization in conjunction with the city government. the show is arranged around a large fountain in a city park. You have to dolly in from the street, but there are two one way streets either side of the venue, so it's not difficult and it's on concrete all the way.

Set up is on Sunday morning starting at 7:00 but when I arrived there at that time, probably half of the show tents were already up. Probably anticipating rain. More on that sad story in a moment. Show times run 11 to 5, tear down to follow immediately and vehicles could be brought in at 5:15.

The staff was great to work with and lots of volunteers are available to help out who also circulated around constantly.

Some spaces are short on storage space behind the booth, but generally there is enough if you scoot your booth out a little. It's a good sized show, but not large with about a hundred artists there.

Last year was warm, hot at times, but very well attended and sales were brisk last year. The monsoons hit this year, and hit with a vengeance. We had just got a double booth put up and side tarps attached, and had dollied in the tubs and propanels when the rains hit. It continued raining until 3:00 with only temporary respites. A couple of the young volunteers, young ladies of about 20-22 years old, gave up on trying to keep dry and dropped their shoes off and were spotted dancing in the rain :-)

The rain came down heavy and a community group across from me had an inexpensive pop up tent that collected water badly on top. Too late they tried to take the corner down to drain the large pool up there and used a pole to try and push the top up and off, but pushed the wrong direction. There was a loud "snap" and the thing collapsed into a pile of broken struts. Another artist was seen using an umbrella to push water out of the EZ-Up they had about every couple of minutes.

We knew the probability of rain was high for the day, about 80%. I didn't expect much traffic and was correct. I was surprised to hear from the few fair-goers (notice I'm not saying customers) that anywhere from 20 to 25% of the artists didn't show. I walked around a few times, saw some folks I knew and also got to see Kathy Oda from South Carolina.

However, it came down to this, there was only about an hour and a half where there was anything like a crowd coming through, and that was after 3:00 until 4:30, and the show creaked to a wet and soggy ending. End result was I sold zip and nada. Lots of talkers, gave out cards to some folks who were looking to decorate further down the road. needless to say it was very disappointing, but I wouldn't have gone out myself on a day like that.

The staff did come around and pass out disposable rain ponchos which were appreciated. One wag suggested we looked like giant Trojans wearing those things. They didn't help much as you sweated so badly under them that you were drier standing in the rain.

I'll try the show again next year as I don't think anyone did very well, and I certainly didn't see packages being carried around very often. The woodworker next to me sold a couple of pieces so they were happy that they made some money, and a glass worker a few more booths down sold a couple of pieces, but that was about it. Maybe someone else from the other side of the show did well and they can contribute to this rainy day tale of woe. Sometimes these things are a crap shoot, and the weather rolled snake eyes for us. The only saving grace was that the rain stopped at 3:00 and we were able to pack up with no rain. 

Now it's time to clean up and get ready for the Lexington Woodland show with more predictions of bad weather for next weekend, and topping that off is with the rainy weather we'll have to dolly in from the street and across wet soggy ground.

Here's a moment when the rain wasn't coming down quite so hard.

Salt Fork Festival, Cambridge OH, August 12-14, 2016.

Cambridge Ohio is quite a distance for a show for me. I try to stay within about 8-9 hours of home. This one was a little further, but I was able to break up the drive by staying with my father-in-law north of Cincinnati for the night.

This show made me feel like I had been "Zapped," if you know what I mean. It advertised a three-day show, juried art show, with lots of artist amenities. There were nice artist amenities. Snacks, water, booth sitters all in easy reach, artist party Friday night, awards breakfast Sunday morning. Not sure about the "Juried" part though -- it was more of a craft show.  There were quite a few talented artists in residence, but the $5 sign-on-a-stick, soap and smiling pillows were frequent. The crowds were unfortunately not frequent.

I set up for setup at the show Friday morning, the last on a row. Once I finished my flurry of set up, I had a chance to walk around a bit. That was when I realized that there were about 12 empty spaces between me, my neighbor and anyone else. Apparently they moved to other spots or didn't show at all. I was watching people come to the end of the line, look and see that here was so much space between booths, and turn around and go back the way they had come. Me and my neighboring booth decided to move to a "better" spot. So another breakdown and setup, but at least the show coordinator was accommodating to us about the move.

The crowds just weren't there. Had I done some research I would have known more about the demographics of the area, and that this was a "rebuilding" year for the show. The threat of bad weather didn't help, but we did dodge the bullet threat of bad weather on Friday and Saturday.

Saturday was decent sales-wise, but nowhere near where I should be. My former neighbor apparently had a dismal day and packed out on Saturday night. Sunday was a one-sale day and the monsoon hit with a vengeance. The bins below my tables were actually floating. At that point myself and most everyone else called it quits and started packing out in the pouring rain.

Bright side, my hotel was nice, I met some really amazing artists among the group, got home safely and woke up in my own bed.

October 15 & 16

Olmsted Linear Park
Presented by: The Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces
225 Artists

Application fee: $25; Booth fee: $275-$550

The Fall Festival on Ponce is an Atlanta arts and crafts festival held in the historic Olmsted Linear Park.  Visitors will enjoy the gorgeous landscape designed by one of America's most celebrated landscape architects, Fredrick Olmsted St., which was carefully restored by the Olmsted Linear Park Alliance.

An estimated 20,000 visitors will attend this event with over 125 displays of fine art and crafts, folk and "outsider art." In addition to the abundance of unique art, there will be a children's area, local gourmet food, beverages and a small stage for acoustic musical performances. 

This is the 6th year that AFFPS will hold an outdoor arts and crafts festival in the chain of parks on Ponce de Leon Ave. in the historic Druid Hills neighborhood.  This event will be very conservative, with sensitivity and consideration for the park and surrounding neighborhood.