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Please feel free to comment or make any opinions, thank you.

Dates, may not be exact, just posting from memory.

Three small shows along the CT coast, all in small scenic pleasant towns. Easy to do. 

1. 2015 -Guildford CT, Craft Expo, mid July. Set up easy Fri morning for me. Grassy center of town green area. Show Hours were easy- Fri from 3-8 pm or something like that. Sat and Sun, no long hours. Tear down easy.

Fee for customers. Quality was good, booth fee around $680 or so. Show was not crowded, but steady.

I was happy with sales. I don't know about anyone else, although most of my neighbors said they have been doing this show for some years, so I assume they are satisfied. 

Do not recall painting as this was considered a craft show. My hotel was about $100 or so a night, close.

No logistic problems with parking, eating, etc.  Customers appeared to be interested in the show and the artwork. Very nice weekend. Would return but there is a schedule conflict for me with the State College Show, which is in my town.

2.2016- Mystic Seaport Art Show, mid August.  Great bustling little scenic town. Very hot this weekend, people were being told to stay indoors if possible. Set up on street. Saturday morning we were there at 5:30 am. to set up.

Hot at 5:30. Set up easy except the heat. Sales, poor, although for the few customers that were in my booth, I did enough to pay all of my expenses, so I believe the customers are out there. 

I was on a street that was a new area for the art show, and that could have hurt, too.

Hours, easy Sat and Sunday. Tear down easy. 

I believe this show could work if the weather was better, however, I do not have plans to return because I don't think I could live through another hot show on pavement, if it came to that!

3. 2017- Old Saybrook, CT, last weekend in July.  Same as the other shows- easy set up, hours, etc, 

on a green in the center of town. Perfectly happy with this show, made enough money to justify doing it, some nice work in booths and some that you just wonder about....

Crowds seemed to be about the same for all three shows in that I found a number of people who were interested and happy with my work and purchased.  

I live about 5-5 1/2 hours from these locations. These shows were easy to do and pleasant, which justified doing shows were sales were decent, but not phenomenal. 

So, my question if anyone can help- I see a good fit with my work and this area of the country. Are there larger shows nearby with larger crowds?  Another artist told me that the Paradise city shows were about the same for her as these, but that is only one person's opinion, thank you.

This was the 27^th annual Golden Fine Arts Festival and the 14^th continuous year I have participated in the event.  Golden, CO is at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  It is home for the Colorado School of Mines, a top engineering school, and the Coor’s brewery.  Students were returning to school the weekend of the show.

The show is set up for three blocks on 11^th Street and over 130 artists from 20 states occupy 160 booth spaces.  There was live music and beer in the food court at the east end of the show.  There were also art activities for kids.

The Golden Chamber of Commerce manages the show, and there were new personnel for the show this year which resulted in some problems.   The show is important to the business community and I feel confident that this year’s problems will be resolved.

Application to the show is through Zapp. The jury fee is $30 and single booth fee is $450.  Acceptance to the show is competitive.  Ribbon awards with cash ($1800 divided up) are given for Best of Show, and first and second places for each medium.

SET UP AND TAKE DOWN

      Set up begins at midnight Thursday before the show, but most artists set up Friday.  There was no “traffic czar” and consequently artists with large vans and trailers blocked access to other’s booths for hours on end.  In past years, artists have unloaded and moved vehicles off the street.

      The same situation existed at take down.  It was stated in the information packet that vehicles would not be allowed on the street until 5:45pm, 45 minutes after the show closed. There were vehicles on the street at 5:05 while patrons were still on the street.  This is a serious safety issue.

WEATHER

      Friday and Sunday were in the mid 80’s.  Saturday it got up to 92 and there was no cloud cover.

PROBLEMS

1. The first sign that the show was going to have problems was the information packets at 9:00am checking. They were not available until 1:00pm Saturday. Booth ID sheets were in the packet, but there was no sleeve to display them. Some artists got sleeves later but I ended up using one of my own.  There was a playing card in the packet. But no explanation of what it was for. I had a joker and thought maybe I had won some sport of prize, LOL. Although it was on Zapp, the show hours were not given in a pre-show email or in the packet.
2. A parking map was provided but I heard from people with trailers that they were told to leave designated parking areas.
3. TAX INFORMATION. Management really dropped the ball on this one, especially for the 20 out-of-state artists. Information about obtaining a Colorado Special Event license was on Zapp. The $50 city tax deposit was covered in Zapp and pre-show email, but a separate email from the city provided instructions for obtaining the temporary city tax license (free). The only tax information in the packet was instructions and for collecting the 3% city tax. In past years, this tax was collected on site at the end of the show. This year it was to be mailed in, but that was not in the packet.

State and Jefferson County taxes are complicated for a

non-resident. They consist of State 2.9%, Jefferson County     0.5%, RTD (transportation)1% and CD (cultural) 0.1%. All of these combined with the city tax gives a combined 7.5% rate which was given in Zapp but not in the packet.  Furthermore, the Colorado Department of Revenue site is not easy to navigate, even for residents (even I swear when I have to use it).  Better shows provide a step by step description of how to access the tax reporting form for Special Events.

1. Advertising. In past years a summary of advertising has been provided. At some of the earlier shows I attended actual tear sheets of everything were in a really thick packet. It was overwhelming. A simple list would allow artists to evaluate advertising with crowd size and buyers.
2. COMMERCIAL BOOTH. Saturday morning, two booths down from me, Anderson Windows started setting up a booth. WHAT? This is totally unheard of at Golden. I found the onsite “boss” and politely but firmly explained to her that Anderson among the artist was an “in your face, red flag insult to every artist in the show!” She moved them, but it should not have happened in the first place.
3. Exit Survey. I completed mine but no one seemed to know what to do with it.  I gave mine to a volunteer in their booth who was reluctant to take it, and had no information on other options.

AMENITIES

      Port-a-Pots and hand washing stations were available. Volunteers provided water and booth sitting (the playing cards were for calling a booth sitter). Snacks were available before and during the show. There was an artist reception Friday night. I have attended in the past, but now I don’t go as we commute to the show and it is 1:10 drive home.

SALES & THE NUMBERS

      Historically, Golden has grown from a $2-3K show to a consistent $4-5K show for me. This year sales were off from 2016 by $900, but it was still a good show. I had 59 sales and the average sale was $72. My net margin was 87%. The good numbers were the result of some $200+ holster, multiple belt and silver buckle sales.

      The crowd was down from last year, I attribute this to many people going to Wyoming for the solar eclipse on Monday. The news reported 500,000 people for CO made the trip and one would expect most of them were from the Denver metro area.

      I plan to return if I don’t get blackballed for complaining about Anderson Windows booth.  

FUN STUFF

      There are always lots of dogs, infants and toddlers at Golden. You will hear different languages spoken by foreign students and visitors.  A man from China seemed really happy to have his picture taken with one of my saddles and a historic holster with model six shooter.  Another man and I conversed in Spanish about a dog collar. I thanked him for allowing me to practice my Spanish. He thanked me for letting him practice his English.  To top it off we always got to Woody’s for pizza after takedown around 9:00pm. 

Making art fairs exciting, interesting and compelling to attend for the patrons is always at the top of any event's agenda. We all know that the Cherry Creek Art Festival has excelled at this for some time, enthusiastic buyers streaming to see the art.

Coming up on September 17 at the Stanley Marketplace is Cherry Arts at the Stanley. Here is a cool promotion to bring the people to the show: Art Brunch featuring

activities for all ages will make this a memorable experience and new annual tradition for all that love brunch and art, featuring interactive take-home art activities, a fabulous culinary brunch menu, beverages, mimosas, live music and more! 

Learn more about this promotion: http://www.995themountain.com/events/art-brunch

The Coconut Grove Arts Festival for many years hosted a breakfast for their patrons and then took them through the show in trolleys. Seems a good idea. Promotion has to go on forever.

December 2 & 3
West Palm Beach, Florida
Presented By: Armory Art Center
95 Artists
Deadline: August 31

Last year's Festival brought 6,000 affluent visitors and 86 artists. This event will be well-publicized by local media reporting, media sponsorships, advertising, and social media. Scheduled at the perfect time for holiday shopping, vendors will reach affluent Palm Beach and Broward County residents, plus engage our large seasonal tourist population.

The campus hosts space for 95 10'x10' tents throughout the Armory's campus. Tents will be located outdoors in the sculpture garden and in the parking lot. 

The Armory Art Center is on the south end of Howard Park within walking distance of the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, the Palm Beach Convention Center, Hilton West Palm Beach, and CityPlace-a premier shopping, dining, and entertainment destination.

Got back from the Cheyenne Arts Festival on Monday in where? Cheyenne, WY. The Festival takes place inside and in front of the historic train depot in downtown Cheyenne which, in and of itself, is quite quaint. Cheyenne being less than 2 hours away from Denver, I thought I'd try something different.

Just The Facts...

Show Hours and Dates: Cheyenne Arts Festival, Cheyenne, WY. August 18-20 (about the third weekend in August) Friday 5-9, Saturday 9-8 and Sunday 11-5. Art, crafts, music, kid stuff... This show can be found on the Café call for entry website.

Logistics:

Load in for the show was Friday morning starting at 9 am. As I am less than 2 hours away I didn't have to spend money on a hotel room which probably was going to be over priced because of the solar eclipse anyway. Got there just before 9 and got lots of help from volunteers and Bill Lindstrom, the Executive Director of the show, unloading my van. As it was early there wasn't a lot of interference from other artists unloading so it all went well. The finer arts were inside the renovated and historic train depot with a few more outside, craftier items along with music and kids stuff were in the front area of the depot.  There wasn't a lot of space inside the depot for storage and as parking was a few blocks away whatever I had in my booth was going to have to suffice. A few of the booths set up in such a way so that they did have some storage.

Amenities:

Water,  water and water, and volunteer booth sitters. Additionally, the show hosted a social on Friday night with a free glass of wine and enough snacky stuff to suffice for dinner, a tip o' the hat to the many volunteers who showed up frequently with water and for those occasional breaks. Did I mention water? Didn't seem like being inside with air conditioning would require much hydration but Cheyenne is at a higher elevation and for some reason I needed to drink a lot! Stay hydrated my friends!

Storage, Booth Space, Load-In/Out:

Depending on where you were situated there was room to spare or none at all. I had no space behind my booth for storage others had some. As stated above load-in was easy as I beat most of the crowd setting up first thing Friday morning. Load-out was fairly chaotic but most people behaved and I got out, as usual, in just under 2 hours. Again, those great volunteers helped make everything run smoothly getting my stuff to the curb so that I could get it all stuffed back into my van.

Demographics/Buying Trends:

As this show takes place in the middle of the old downtown Cheyenne there were a variety of types milling about. I found that the mid-age group were the buying type although occasionally, the millennials were buying as well, older folks, as is usually the case, were out for a stroll. Those that were buying seemed very engaged, knowledgeable or asked reasonable questions (with the occasional, "Didja take all these pitchers?"). Most of my sales were of the higher end matted stuff, I'm not complaining! One out-of-towner bought a good sized wood plaq to be sent to her in Maryland. Yes, there were a lot of out-of-town folks here most likely for the solar eclipse trip to Casper, WY.

I inquired about how the crowd this weekend compared to previous shows. It seems that this was a busy show mostly on Sunday as tour buses from Greeley, CO were ship'n 'em in, otherwise it would have been a very slow weekend. Friday night was the best sales period, Saturday (a long day) was slow and Sunday nary a sale to be had.

Quality/Range of Art:

From my survey of booths the work was variable. The booths inside the depot were of the finer art variety and stuff outside was less so, more of the handmade variety.

Food:

As this was the downtown area of Cheyenne there are plenty of good places to eat nearby, but getting there during the show was not easy. There were two very close places, one inside the depot and one across the street. The depot place had a limited menu, mostly beer there, but the sliders I had were very good as was the kale salad! The place across the street was marginal. There were no food trucks nearby. I think I heard they were all at some other goings on. Ice cream was not too far away either.

Reflections:

This was a first time show for me. I enjoyed and appreciated how engaged the people were with the art at the show but alas they did not show all of their appreciation with purchases.

Okay, now for the star rating! I'd give this show ✩✩✩✩ out of 5 and that is because of the nice job of logistics, amenities, booth sitting, and management, etc. As far as the buying goes, I'd give it  1/2 ✩. I didn't lose money doing this show but I didn't make any either. That's not exactly how it needs to be.

Quick recap of a very weird weekend. Bayfront Park in Duluth, MN is a great setting right on Lake Superior. New management of this show seems to have fixed lots of things that were being handled poorly in past years. Load in and out are easy...for an extra 50 bucks you can park your trailer right behind your booth! They did a superb job of keeping the artists flush with water and snacks. Booth sitters were readily available as well. 

Attendance was maybe 12,000, maybe. Might have been under 10K. Buyers were out in full force Saturday morning. There seemed to be less activity later and crowds thinned way, way down by 4:00. The show runs until 7 p.m. Saturday but the last two hours it was a ghost town. And this even though the weather was perfect!

I'm from Minneapolis and have photographed Minnesota and the area all my life. I have some killer work that stops people in their tracks. The only thing I lacked at this show was a large selection of wall-ready pieces under $50. My sales here were terrible and it may have been one of those weird, no-explanation deals. For some artists, there's no such thing as a finished piece under $50. I don't know if I'll do this one again.  Gotta ponder that. I certainly wouldn't try it again unless I have more offerings at the low end, ready to hang. 

Sorry for the very vague nature of this post but this show for me was a head-scratcher. Buyers everywhere except my booth. I did talk to other artists and it was not great for all. Some did just fine, but I know others didn't. It's not obvious to me what the formula here is to have a solid show. Not for every medium anyway. I think the take-away, if there is one, is that your art must be unique, fun, appealing to a young, outdoorsy crowd, and affordable. 

October 14 and 15

• $10,000 in awards
• Artisanal food, craft beer, and roots music 
• Free admission and parking for patrons
• Easy load in and set up, great hospitality including booth sitters, and all day snacks and coffee for artists. 
• Booths are 10'x11' (double booths are available). 
• Set up is Friday afternoon or Saturday morning.  
• There is security on site all weekend.  

We are pleased to announce Open Call for Hungarian Multicultural Center residency program in Budapest, Hungary in 2018

Subject: “Environmental Project”.

Deadline: November 20, 2017

HMC International Artist Residency Program, a not-for-profit arts organization based in Dallas, TX / Budapest, Hungary - provides national and international artists to produce new work while engaging with the arts community in Budapest, Hungary.  

For more info and application form write to: Beata Szechy

bszechy@yahoo.com

August 18 & 19    

From the Chamber of Commerce:

• two days
• beautiful time of year for weather & tourism
• spacious booth spaces:  12x12

  

October 6, 7 & 8 
Downtown Lee's Summit, Missouri

Again this year: Shared Tents

• Artist lounge area with snacks & beverages
• Free, near by artist parking; overnight security
• Electricity included in booth fee
• Large festival budget for marketing and advertising
• Excellent artist prizes 

This show used to be on the same weekend as Uptown Art Fair but it's been moved to allow customers to give Loring all of their attention. The demographics here are pretty favorable, as locals live in condos and apartments near downtown Mpls. So they certainly have walls but obviously few will have yards. Keep that in mind if you sell wind chimes or twirly things for the garden. If you have all price points covered and a good selection of truly different, high quality art, then you have a shot at doing well here. 

I felt the crowds were pretty good; there seemed to be people coming past the booth 5-10 at a time pretty much all day, both days. I suspect there were well over 10,000 people attending, maybe as much as 20,000. Watching people stroll by you got the impression that very few are hurting for money, although it's not a super-high-dollar neighborhood. Just a good solid economic base and people with midwestern values who want something high quality and unique for their money. The quality of the work was quite good here so bring your A-game as an artist.

There are artists here who've done Loring forever. The kind woman next to me had unique jewelry and it was old home week for her; she was repeatedly greeted by old friends and long-standing customers. So there's really something to be said for the beautiful park location, shade trees, ample booth space and easygoing atmosphere. Some artists come back year after year. Just a really nice vibe to the place. Volunteers were on hand to make sure you had plenty of water. There was a light breakfast in the morning as well, and I think an evening thing which I didn't attend. 

I sold two large canvases on day one and some small prints so I was off to a good start, but my Sunday was really weak. Ended up not bad overall, thanks to those two large pieces. Those sales prove to me that it's certainly possible for this local clientele to buy higher-ticket items on a whim. It wasn't happening left and right all around me, but it did happen. The  highly accomplished watercolor artist to one side of me had a decent show, not great, all on the strength of $45 Giclees. A potter with really unique work a few booths down said he was selling; another photographer friend had a pretty good show as well. Loring is known as a good show and what I heard sort of bears this out. However, I know of two artists, both photographers, whose work didn't resonate for whatever reason. So it's not a slam-dunk here. You can certainly have a sub-$500 show if your art is not unique or noteworthy. 

Load-in was easy although the path is a little snug in spots, but if everyone is polite it works out fine. (The path is literally that..a walking/jogging trail that you'll drive on to get to your booth.) Load-out is really easy if you wait a bit and let those in a hurry bug out. There is a TON of space behind your booth in most spots and an extra foot built in on each side. I was very happy with that layout. 

I had a potential customer show up with a photo of the room she needed a large print for, and all she needed was dimensions. That conversation happened twice, so it's clear that people there are perfectly willing to buy good art for their homes or businesses. The crowd had a nice vibe to it for what that's worth. It's meaningless unless it translates to sales. Those who did the best had affordable stuff...not the $15-20 range that plagues many shows, but $25-100 seemed pretty easy for the crowd to digest all weekend along. If you have inventory, that can add up nicely. 

I'll do it again next year if they'll have me, but I'm tweaking my print bins and adding more Mpls-specific images. I'm local so that's not too hard. But again, you gotta be different in some way. When people just stand there and grin as they look around, you know you've got their attention. 

Saturday morning of Arts Festival in State College, PA, is a special time for Artists, Jurors and the Prize Sponsors. 9 am sharp. An air of anticipation. A gathering of artists wondering ... "will it be me?" The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts awarded more than $17,000 in prize money in 23 awards to our top Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition Artists in 2017.

Each of these award winners will also be invited artists next year, bypassing the rigorous jury process to choose the 300 or so artists from the nearly 1,000 applicants to the 2018 show.

Jeweler Wayne Werner of Havre de Grace, MD received the Arete Best of Show Award for 2017. The award was presented by former Festival board president Linda Gall. The award is funded by an endowment at the Centre Foundation created by Linda and her husband Blake. 

See the entire list of 23 winners right here. Bet you'll find people you know! 
http://arts-festival.com/press-releases#1498753263291-fade9b0c-d22d

When I first participating in art fairs, over 30 years ago, there was a big crafts show in Newnan, GA, Powers' Crossroads.

When it was founded in 1971 by local artist Tom Powers on his family’s property, the Powers’ Crossroads Country Fair and Arts Festival was something new and it was extremely popular. Some of the finest artists and artisans in the South exhibited at Powers Crossroads, and many demonstrated their crafts. There was even a moonshine-making demonstration.

It was very popular and people poured in to shop and eat and have a great time. It was held for the last time in 2012. If you are interested in the ins and outs of this business, like I am, this article chronicles the rise and fall of what was once a very popular regional event and the mainstay of some artists and craftspeoples income. 

From the Newnan Times-Herald:http://times-herald.com/news/2017/07/powers-is-gone-coweta-festivals-is-no-more

Anyone here have more information on this? Did you ever do this fair?

September 23-October 15
Brooklyn, New York
Presented By: Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC)
400 Artists
Deadlines: Early bird: August 6; Final Deadline: August 6

AMERICAN CRAFT SHOWS - 2018

February 21-25 - Baltimore, MD March 16-18 - Atlanta, GA April 20-22 - St. Paul, MN August 3-5 - San Francisco, CA presented by the American Craft Council Deadline: August 11 The ACC Shows - 1900+ EXHIBITING ARTISTS

This show was two weeks ago so sorry for the lack of timeliness but, seeing as it is already over, it doesn't matter anyway! I skipped this show last year (2016) for some reason, most probably as it wasn't that great the year before.

Just the facts:

Show Hours and Dates: Pearl Street Arts Festival, Boulder Colorado, July 15 - 16.  Sat 10- 6, Sun 10 -5. Applications now are being taken on Zapp.

Logistics:

The show is set up in two locations, you can opt for the Pearl Street Mall with setup on Saturday morning only, beginning at 6 AM or you can choose 14th street with setup on Friday evening beginning at 3 PM. This year I choose a booth on 14th street, having tried Pearl Street all previous years. I showed up Saturday morning as the only one setting up in the wee hours, it was great! I didn't have to fight the crowd!

Amenities:

Water,  water and water, scones  and volunteer booth sitters for the occasional break. Additionally, the show hosted a breakfast with an awards presentation Sunday morning, a tip o' the hat to the volunteers who showed up frequently for those of us needing a break.

Storage, Booth Space, Load-In/Out:

Depending on where you were situated there was room to spare or none at all. I had several feet of space behind my booth for storage and dodging the sun. As stated above load-in was easy as I skipped the crowd setting up Friday evening and opted to wake up early with the Pearl St. crowd for setup. Load-out was fairly chaotic but most people behaved and we got out, as usual, in just under 2 hours.

Demographics/Buying Trends:

As this show takes place in the middle of the old downtown area on Pearl Street there were a variety of types milling about. I found that the mid-age group were the buying type although occasionally, the millennials were buying as well, older folks, as is usually the case, were out for a stroll. Those that were buying seemed very engaged and knowledgeable.

Quality/Range of Art:

From my limited survey of booths the work was great! It seems that the show has upped their effort in vetting artists. It was reported in some years previous that the show was losing its grip but it seems that it has regained its footing.

Food:

As this is the downtown mall there are plenty of good places to eat nearby so the crowd didn't stray too far. There were also a few high quality food trucks nearby. Coffee, ice cream and other such stuff was not too far either.

Reflections:

This was not a first time show for me. I've been doing this show, or various incarnations of it, since the mid '80's. This show has had various organizations running it under different names. My low end items ($25) didn't sell at all! Yippee! Most purchases were in the mid range ($45-165). As is the case with this show being in mid July it was quite hot and people would head for the shade. The show had the feel of the "old days" when crowds of people would populate my booth attracting more people that wanted to see what was going on. Alas, although there was a lot of excitement there wasn't the accompanying buying. I didn't do terrible but it was one of the better Boulder shows I've done. Would I return? Two years ago, when I was on the mall, it was a definite NO and that's why I didn't do 2016. This year I would say yes as people were interested AND buying.

Why not Pearl St? I've been on the mall multiple times and found that there are so many distractions for people (kids playing on giant toads, rocks to crawl on, street musicians, dirty shoe less types) on the mall that they barely slow down enough to look. I found being on 14th street there were fewer distractions and people took their time to look.

Okay, now for the Dave Piper star rating! I'd give this show ✩✩✩✩ out of 5 and that is because of the nice job of logistics, amenities, booth sitting, quality of the art, management, etc. As far as the buying goes, I'd give it  ✩.