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Art Fair Insiders is an amazing resource for me as an artist.  I can find great info on shows and where to apply, the forum for sharing info is invaluable and to top it off I won an amazing prize from an artist who donated so generously.  His name is Mike Montgomery and he is an incredibly talented painter.  I couldn't believe I was lucky enough to get one of his originals and to top it off the focus of the art piece is music and playing the guitar which fits me perfect since I am learning to play.  Thank you Mike for so generously donating one of your originals and to Art Fair Insiders for being such a great resource!  I've attached a pic of this incredible painting.

The one thing that never happens to me, is winning anything!!!  But....I actually won one of the great prizes in the Pledge Drive!!

I will get free show entry into the Spring Old Towne Art Show in St. Augustine in March 2016.  I still have to be juried in...so keep your fingers crossed for me.  I have been throwing around ideas for improving my booth set-up, so now I will have to think on it a little harder for the August entry.

I really love this site...I haven't done a lot of shows, because I was working full time.  Now I am only working Part-time, three short days a week and hope by the end of the year to be fully retired.  My goal is to participate in as many shows as I can juried into and still keep my sanity.  I love all the tips of the trade that everyone shares here.

Thank you again.  And keep up the good work.

Stephanie Ryder

Chantique Designs

Please follow me on Etsy:  www.etsy.com/shop/ChantiqueDesignsOrig

This is the second time I have done this “close to home” show. It did not meet my basic requirements for selecting a show, but I did it anyways. I hope the analysis at the end will be useful to newcomers to art shows.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Castle Rock is town with a population of 53,000 on I-25 about midway between Denver and Colorado Springs. Residents work in both places.  It is the county seat for Douglas County, ranked as the 9^th wealthiest county in the US. Median income for the county is $101,600, and for Castle Rock it is $86,280 (US Census data).  It also has one of the highest per capita horse ownerships in the country which reflects the high income of residents.  There has been significant growth in the area and a new housing development has been started east of town.

Castle Rock is an interesting “berg” making the transition from a typical western town to more urban with Denver and Colorado Springs commuters. You can still see the bullet holes in the pressed tin ceiling at the B&B Cafe across the street where the town marshal was shot and killed while attempting to make an arrest in 1946. The old courthouse burned down in 1978 when some gal started a fire in the jail in an attempt to break her boyfriend out of the place.

SHOW SETTING, SETUP & TAKE DOWN

The show is produced by the Greater Castle Rock Art Guild. There is a $25 Jury fee and the booth fee for 10X10 is $200.  This was the third year for the show and it has had different management each year. This year’s show was managed by Guild President Suzanna Opp and marketing Director Anthony Constantino. The show was advertised for 50 artists but only 19 were present. There were eight 2D artists (oil, watercolor, ceramic etc.) three photographers, three jewelers, and one each wood, glass, fabric, pottery and leather (me).  Quality of the work was very good.  There was live music both days. Restaurants are abundant around the courthouse square. A doughnut and pastry truck was on site Saturday, and a hot dog vendor was there Sunday. Overnight security was provided Friday and Saturday nights. The show was advertised on digital signs at the outlet mall north of town and the town hall sign. I saw signage at street intersections and an ad in the local newspaper.  Tax forms were provided for paying city sales tax (4%), but you had to pay the county and state taxes(3.9%) on line.   

     The show is held on the courthouse grounds in the center of Castle Rock on grass lawns.  Set up was scheduled for Friday starting at 5:00 pm but Anthony sent out an email that we could start as early as 3:15 - SUPER!  Prior to the show, there had been heavy rain for about two weeks that finally ended Friday morning. The ground was soft and table legs etc. needed to be blocked. You dolly into your site on sidewalks, but the maximum distance was only about 40 yards. There were access spaces between booths and ample storage space behind booths. Take down was equally easy. There were porta pots and a hand washing station behind the courthouse, and there were indoor restrooms at the guild gallery across the street.  Other amenities were cold water and Gatorade during the day, and coffee and goodies at the gallery in the morning. Booth sitters were available. Overall, this is a well-managed show.       

ATTENDANCE AND SALES

     Attendance Saturday was very weak but slightly better Sunday. Consequently, my sales were very slow. My gross sales were $965 and the average sale for 14 sales was $68.93 (my price points range from $7 for a belt buckle to $5000 for a saddle). The range of sales was $15 for a set of napkin rings without bandanas to $270 for two belts with silver buckle sets.

 ANALYSIS

     The rule I follow for shows is not to return unless my minimum gross sales is $1000/day for the weekend. I did this show its first year in 2013 (breaking another one of my “rules”) because an artist friend had organized it, I needed to find a good show in June, and the demographics were right for it. My gross sales that year were a tad under $1300 with an 81% profit margin because we ate and slept at home. Because it didn’t reach the $2000 minimum for returning, I decided to do Smokey Hill River Festival in Salina, KS in 2014. At that one, we grossed a few dollars less than $3K over 3 days and the profit margin was 58%. OK, but at the low end for most of my shows. The BIG DOWNSIDE for Salina was the trip over there across boring eastern Colorado and western Kansas. It’s flat and monotonous with only the “world’s largest prairie dog”, limestone fence posts, and Cathedral of the Plains to break the monotony. It’s like counting grain bins in the Texas panhandle. Besides that, I was up at 1:00am tracking tornadoes approaching Salina Saturday night. There was horrendous wind driven rain, but my inventory survived.

     Based on those factors I decided to break my rules and give Castle Rock another shot. Sales this year don’t justify returning, but the show will remain on my watch list simply because the demographics are right. Hopefully the guild will get a consistent management that researches what other similar communities like Golden and Boulder do to produce successful shows.

Note: this show is not listed in artshowreviews.com

Photos: up and down my aisle in front of the courthouse, sunset and storms out east on the way home . 

The awaited Spring/Summer art fair season in the upper Midwest seems to be succumbing to extensive storms. My weather info for the coming week is thunderstorms every day! and there is mold and mildew crawling up my house. It seems we are living in a rain forest rather than an arboreal forest.

So how goes it at the shows? Hope you all are prepared with good strong tents and weights as well as insurance.

Many members were in Columbus, OH, this weekend for the big show. Columbus had a flash storm four years ago and it was back again this year.

NBC4i: Columbus, Ohio News, Weather and Sports (WCMH-TV)

How did you get through this weekend? and how have you recovered with the end of May storms in the Chicago area? From the Millennium Art Festival in Chicago:

Our first go at this show and a very confusing one at that.  I will bullet point it:

• Setup - best ever. 5 volunteers unloaded the truck, set up 2 tents and staked them. Unbelievable
• Staff - phenomenal, always around
• Volunteers - see above, and was asked hourly if we needed a booth-sitter.  Probably made a dozen sales to volunteers as well
• Venue - we were on plush grass under a huge shade tree.  Plenty of room, lots of clean porta pots, parking a couple blocks away but not bad.  Pull right to the booth.
• "Shoes" - great customers, very few non-buyers.
• Average sale - above average

So.... Why confusing?  This was a fantastic show from every perspective except for crowd size!  if the attendance had been half of what we expected (est. was 10,000), we would have had a great show!  Unfortunately, this is part of a 15 day event and all the advertising was for the 15 day event with very little focus on the Art Festival.  So disappointed!  The other issue was that it's adjacent to a new Whole Foods store, and the parking lot there was used in the past for the event.  Whole Foods stationed guards at the parking lot, interviewing folks to make sure they were shopping at Whole Foods and threatening to tow if they lied.  Then, they set up Food Carts at the edge of their property, undercut the prices of the food court for the event (50 feet away), did not pay anything to the event.  Nasty business.  And yes, undercut as in posted prices, then checked the food court prices, then dropped the prices to $1.00 less than the food court (Crab Cakes went from $11 to $7, the Crab Cake Vendor pulled out and went home).  Personally, Whole Foods will never see me in a store again.

September 19 & 20       

Downtown Park Forest

Deadline: June 27

The Park Forest Art Fair is an outdoor fair held in the streets of Downtown Park Forest.  Known as an exceptionally artist-friendly show (especially emerging artists-friendly) because of its amenities for artists and reasonable registration fee, the fair features:

• $175 Registration fee
• $2,500 in cash awards and purchase prizes
• a complimentary breakfast on Saturday morning and a fabulous dinner party for the artists on Saturday evening after the close of the fair
• Overnight security on Saturday night, which includes conveniently located, locked storage space
• booth sitters are available as needed over the weekend

Artists who participate in the fair report their pleasure that fair attendees, traditionally, stop and chat with the artists.  One artist, who shows regularly through the Midwest region, reported that he sold more artworks on Saturday of the fair than he had sold in a single day at any other fair in which he participated.

advertised on WFMT and WBBM radio during the morning rush hour.

The fair has won the ArtFairInsiders recognition as one of the best small art fairs two years in a row. Here is what the artists have said:

I met the nicest people there, exhibitors and patrons. It was a joyful little show. You might want to try it sometime. Nels Johnson, reviewer on ArtFairInsiders.com

wonderful. The quality of art on display was extremely high an I was humbled to be included. Bob Decker, artist, Wapello, IA
 

I was well looked after. The arts committee was ever present. They fed us, booth sad and probably would have spoon fed me had I asked. Sales? Very good ... way beyond expectations. I strongly recommend this show.Stuart Rein, Goodyear, AZ

The application and information can be downloaded from: 
www.tallgrassarts.org   

Approval through the jurying process also confers the 

status of Gallery Artist and permits artists to participate in the annual Tall Grass Gallery 

Artists Exhibit.

The Village of Park Forest was built for the purpose of housing GI's returning from WWII.  Incorporated in 1949, less than 6 years later, it was home to an arts association that operated a gallery, school and art fair.  The arts association was followed a few years later by a symphony orchestra, classical chorale and resident, equity theater company-a very welcoming home for the arts and for creative people! 
 

Please  join us. 

Before noon Sunday Ann Arbor

Opening at noon on Sunday seems like it hasn't been given enough thought. Six hours (12:00 - 6:00) seems too short a time for new people to attend the show when the three days prior, the shows are open eleven hours. And historically they tried enforcing not selling until the show opened on all four days.

From my experience doing Ann Arbor, Wednesday and Friday would be the best days with more expensive work making Saturday really good for artists who fit that marketing profile. I'm really curious how Sunday will fit the template. Saturday (formally the last day) opened at 10:00.

I posted this on Art fair Insiders because show directors read this forum and I'm curious about why this decision was reached. Was it a compromise with the city? If you want Sunday, you can't open until noon?

Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100

Hi Connie!  I wanted to thank you again for all you do for the art community and for putting your heart into this site for us all to learn and benefit!  I entered the pledge drive again this year because I want to support your site and help keep it running and because it is FUN!  

Although my name did not get drawn for a prize, I was probably the first one to tell you which prize I wanted in the 'prize grab' at the end.  I chose 2 free months advertising for your festival on the front page of The Event Shop.com. The reason I was so excited about this prize is that I am on the board of a guild show in Pittsburgh called 'A Fair in the Park' and like so many shows, we have recently lost some of our sponsors and are looking for that funding.  

I am so happy to be able to bring this prize to the board and maybe help solve a problem.  What a great prize to win, I had my eye on that one from the beginning and am so surprised that nobody snatched it up before I could.  If anybody else who has an event looking for sponsors wants to know how it works for us, please email me later on this year and I'll let you know.

Again, THANK YOU, Connie for making donating so much fun!

Laurie Leonard

Ok, so this is a shameless plug for my decision to upgrade from an EZ up but too cheap or lazy to go with a Light Dome, etal.

King Canopy Goliath.  Super heavy duty aluminum frame, easily several times better than EZ up.  Same weight though.  $380 at Sams Club online, including sides.  Fantastic customer service, replacement components very inexpensive - top, $95.  Sides, $40.  Bag (great clamshell) $50.  I even broke my bag, not defective, and they sent me a free one, all I did was send pics.  This thing has been in 60 mph winds in the past 2.5 years, over 100 shows, and the frame is still in new condition.  Just replaced the top, and bought a second one.  I will never buy another square leg canopy, this has hexagonal, reinforced 2" legs.  the crossmembers are easily 4x larger than EZ up.

Just sharing to help, no, King Canopy did not ask or pay me to do this.

Another great find for us is Coleman's 5 gallon collapsible water jugs.  fill them with water, and you have 40lb weights, that take up very little space in the truck and weigh nothing!  5 years and never had a problem getting water at a show.

Does anyone have any information regarding this show? I only found 2 reviews that were old. Thanks

Just finished up 2 decent days in Annapolis. Thought I would share our experiences here while still fresh in the brain:

This is NOT a fine arts and crafts show. It is a festival.  While there is probably a bit too much commercial and buy/sell, there is plenty of very nice hand crafted and fine art here.  Several 2D better art, and lots of good craft.  There was, however, a good crowd throughout the weekend.  Plenty of "good shoes" and most artists reported "decent" sales.  I am sure there are a few that had a GREAT show, and a few that had "horrible" sales.  We fall in the decent category, certainly will stay on our schedule for a 4th consecutive year. So, why the "Whine" instead of "Wine"?

Seems to me that if you try hard enough, you can find something to complain about at any show.  This one is held in the parking area (off the blacktop) of the Navy - Marine Corps Memorial Stadium at the Naval Academy.  Not grass, pretty much fine gravel, dirt with a bit of grass and a lot of broken beer bottles.  While not attractive, unless you are barefoot, not a big deal.  Had one customer with a huge poodle complain about the glass.  Lots of vendors did though.  Load in and out is pretty darn easy, unless you are a jerk and in a huge hurry to leave, I guess.  Don't think I am either.  Drive to your booth in and out.  Tons of Porta-pots and clean.  Customers pay $30 per day for a wineglass and wristband to sample dozens of great wines.  Vendors pay $5 for the same thing, and it's good for both days.  

I guess the point is nothing spectacular, and nothing horrible.  No reason to not return, unless you sold very little.  If you didn't do well, it's either a simple fact that your genre did not match the customer's tastes, your prices didn't match the budgets, or you just weren't someone they wanted to buy from.  We had several customers comment that they enjoyed doing business with folks that love what they are doing (us).  While you can't make someone that doesn't like your 'stuff' buy it, you can certainly make them not want to give you their money regardless of how much they like your stuff!  

So, Maple and Main Art Fair in Sylvania, Ohio was a tale of two different days; May 30 and 31. With this being my fourth time in the show, I had my highest sales of any of the four years. Saturday was nice and dry and I hit $1000 on that day. Sunday was mostly rainy and I just go up to $70. The volunteers there are great! They handed us water, baked goods, bananas and gave us restroom breaks. I happy to do Maple and Main for I used to live in Sylvania, Ohio back in the day. Here is a picture of the rainy Sunday...

I have recently moved to TN so I don't do shows in the northeast anymore but when I did Artrider had a good system.  As soon as anyone noticed something missing or saw someone that looked suspicious, you'd immediately report it to the promoters who would then announce over loudspeaker "Artists BE ATTENTIVE TO YOUR BOOTH" several times.  We artists understood what it meant and hopefully the thieves got the hint that we all know they are there.  That worked for shows where the speaker system could be heard almost everywhere.

It finally happened and it is official. The Ann Arbor Art Fairs are moving their dates in 2016. Instead of the Wed.-- Sat. schedule they've had "forever" in 2016 the fair will be held Thurs.-- Sunday! It's about time!

What was holding this up? A lot of it seems to have been the concern for parking for the churches in the show area. An arrangement has been made between the fairs and the churches for the show to open at noon on Sunday. Not ideal, right? But the Sunday shopping always does start late it seems and they'll swarm out of church and be in your booth. Here's hoping.

Max Clayton, director of the Summer Art Fair said

Everyone seemed to embrace the idea of Sunday," said Clayton. "The main question was, 'How come it took so long?' But this is a city where there's a lot of stuff going on, which is one reason we're so grateful to be in Ann Arbor. But we wanted to make sure all the stakeholders, and all our partners, were aware of what was going on, and consider the impact on them. That's why it took two years of serious conversation to make sure this could happen."

Learn more here: 

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/06/its_official_ann_arbor_art_fai.html

Kracklauer Park in downtown Mundelein

45 artists
 Deadline: June 15

Mundelein Community Connection announces the 5th Annual Mundelein Fine Arts Festival, a juried art festival that will showcase the talents of 45 fine artists and craftspeople. The two day event will feature top-notch artists, local musicians and delicious food from local eateries.
 
 Mundelein is a village of 31,000 people located in the northern suburbs of Chicago. An extensive network of nearby highways allows easy access to a host of neighboring cities, as well as Chicago and southern Wisconsin.

Publicity:                   

• Online advertisement through e-blasts and Social Media         
• Major newspaper advertising and publicity          
• Electronic sign advertisement as well as a poster campaign throughout the region         

• Cash Prizes for each category and Best of Show    
• Village of Mundelein Purchase Award        
• $500 Emerging Artist Award         
• Local Business Purchase Awards        

Location and Event Benefits and Amenities:             

• Easy load and unload, free parking           
• Complimentary breakfast Saturday and Sunday         
• Volunteer help for running lunches and booth sitting 
• Highly visible location          
• Tasty food from local vendors and restaurants            

        Terry Skriba, Executive Director of the Mundelein Community Connection

        (847)970-9235 or email: mundeleincc@tds.net

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Find even more art festivals looking for artists: www.CallsforArtists.com

Here are the winners from the Pledge Drive drawing. You can hear more about this on the podcast here. They will all be receiving emails notifying them, but in the meantime, if your name is listed below please visit the prize page and send me an email listing your first 3 choices.

We'll fulfill choices starting with #1. A few have already been chosen.

1. Bob's Photos
2. Lakestone Jewelry, Jennifer Nunnelee - $100 Amazon gift card from www.actinsurance.com
3. JMC Studio, Janet Campbell - Flourish MeshPanel Display Walls, Flourish.com
4. Philip Green - $200 artwork photography from Larry Berman, www.BermanGraphics.com
5. Suzanne Krongold - free booth space at Old Town Art Show (winter) from Holidayartshows.com
6. Teresa DeVer - $250 of photography work from Larry Sanders, www.juryimage.com
7. Ernie Komarek - $100 gift certificate on all products at matboardandmore.com
8. Carrie Jacobson - Ingot Canopy Weight Set, http://www.canopyweights.com
9. John Weller - consulting with Connie Mettler
10. Stewart Casper
11. Charles Karolewski - banner kit from CanopyBanners.net
12. Bonny Hawley - Expert Website Review from Scott Fox
13. Woody Smith - Regional Online subscription (1 year) w/Diamond upgrade to ArtFairSourcebook.com from Greg Lawler
14. Heidi Mandich - Free Space at The January Sanibel (FL) SCA Masters Art Festival. January 15 and 16, 2016, from Richard Sullivan, boulderbrook.net
15. Elton Kirtley
16. Rebecca Tesch - Canopy Banner Kit from Jeff Christlieb, CanopyBanners.net
17. Rich Horner - Handcrafted oil lamp from Edward Basta
18. Ralph Sharp - From Clotheslines to Canopies: Art Fair History Book from Kathleen Eaton, www.ArtFairHistory.com
19. Gretchen Stanfill - 2014 AFSB Pocket Edition, from Greg Lawler, ArtFairSourcebook.com
20. Deb LaFogg Docherty - free booth space at Chastain Park Art Festival in Atlanta, May 2016 from AFFPS.com
21. Ida Anger
22. Sally Paulson, Pepper Run Studio - $200 credit toward purchase of Gallery Pouch from FrameDestination.com
23. Dean Myton - $40 gift certificate for printing services from Josh McClure,

    canvasgicleeprinting.com

24. Kari Oronde
25. Albert Scovern - Charlie Parker, Acrylic on Canvas, 12"x12" from Matt Pecson, www.MattPecsonArt.com
26. Roberta Starbird - 15"x20" custom graphite portrait from customer photo from Nica Bell, http://www.viavitaestudios.net
27. Rachel Sheffer
28. Joel Frader - Framed limited edition print of a digital painting from John Leben, www.LebenArt.com
29. Joan Paparigian - free booth space at ArtWorks in Waukesha, WI, from Colin Murray, www.ArtWorksWisconsin.com
30. Josh Merrill - Sunshine Artist subscription, from Nate Shelton, SunshineArtist.com
31. Roderick and Sara Craig - free booth space at Fall Festival on Ponce in Atlanta from Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces
32. Margie Luttrell - Professional critique of your website for SEO, usability and more from Scott Fox, ExpertWebSiteReviews.com
33. Greg Little - Handmade stylus pen from Joel Lockridge, http://www.bourbonpens.com
34. Carol Wilson - Aluminum & 14 kt gold earrings from Mendy Marks, http://www.mendymarks.com
    
35. Heidi Barron - free booth space at Gatlinburg, TN, from Howard Alan, www.artfestival.com
36. Kimberly Haag - 3 award winning romance/mystery books from Janice Armstrong, http://www.jrarmstrong.net
37. Patty Swords - hour consulting with Connie Mettler
38. Richard Wilson - free booth space at Spring Festival on Ponce in Atlanta from AFFPS.com
39. Cindy Griselda - one year's membership National Organization of Independent Artists, https://naia-artists.org/index.php
40. Sara Coast - Sunshine Artist subscription, from Nate Shelton, SunshineArtist.com
41. Lanora Hartway - Sunshine Artist subscription, from Nate Shelton, SunshineArtist.com
42. Renee Snell - Your choice 11 x 14 matted and signed, limited edition photograph from Deb Planky, http://www.archescapeimages.com
43. Andrew Shea - 11 x 14 photo from NormDarwish.com
44. Sid Branham - Stretched canvas print up to 16 x 24, from Steven Huyser-Honig, http://grandrivergiclee.com
45. Nancy Sher
46. Cynthia Reid - Necklace from Susan Carter, http://www.aworldofnecklaces.com
47. Elizabeth Balazs
48. John Desalme - Your choice 8 x 10 Photo from the Bodyscape® collection by Allan Teger, www.bodyscapes.com
49. Jenny Unrein
50. Chris Charles - Art Fair Report, 60 pages of the 2014 art fair survey results from Connie Mettler
51. Raymond Giddens - Artsy Shark Success Guide to Email Marketing for Artists, from Carolyn Edlund at ArtsyShark.com
52. Kim Rendelson
53. Pat Falk - One year's Level 3 membership from Festivalnet.com

It's not too late to pledge. We haven't drawn all the winning names. Anyone who pledges will have a chance at the 10-15 prizes that have not been chosen early next week. First come, first served. If interested, pledge here. 

Ours is a truly unique gallery - a massive Civil War-era warehouse on the Red Hook waterfront in Brooklyn, NY. Its enormous space affords us the opportunity to exhibit really huge work, and we welcome it.  

We will be using 8,000 square feet for this show, and look forward to exhibiting artist's work from all around the country, work in all sizes, subjects, and media, except film (it's almost completely wide open).

Mission:

• to assist emerging artists in advancing their artistic careers
• to present the art-of-today in an easily accessible format 

Awards:  $3000 in Cash Awards

• BEST of SHOW GOLD: $1000 
• BEST of SHOW SILVER: $500
• PEOPLES' CHOICE: $250
• CURATORS' CHOICE: $250
• CERTIFICATE of RECOGNITION: $1000 $100 each for ten winners