Any one know who might be making and selling waterproof vinyl canopy tops for pop up style frame now that John Mee canopy CO is out of business? All I can find are the 600D polyester replacement tops that fit. 

This show has been going for more than 30 years. Up until the last few years it was in a parking lot in the middle of this resort town. One of the local galleries complained that the show was hurting sales so the city no longer leases the lot on the fourth of July weekend. Instead, the show is held in the open area of a mall and around a lake. The load-in and load out is not fun. You dolly to almost every location.

Here's the good news - It is a fabulous show - huge crowds and really good sales. While I'm sure that having collectors and working my email list helped, most artists had good sales. The location is beautiful. There is a high end hotel right next to the site. Many second home owners too.

I did one wholesale account but all the rest were retail. It was a $10k show. Hard to leave that kind of income, but I had promised myself that this was the last show. And some very nice orders not included in that number. The promoter is Mark Beling, show is mountainartfestivals.com. You have to go to his website to apply, no Zapp.

It seems a bit odd to post this since this show is the last outdoor show that i will do. I"ve done the circuit for 20 years and it is just not what i want to do any more.  I'm one of the 'older' artists and when it is just too hard to drag the tent out of the SUV and the weights and the cases and bases and walls, it doesn't matter how much I make.

Show is worth doing.

If you're not aware of what the "orphan rights bill" is, it's a proposed law that if the copyright owner of a image isn't easily found, it's free to use. All creative groups are opposed to this law passing.

But here's the thing I'm taking issue with. What the detested orphan rights bill would make legal is already happening illegally. There are companies that are grabbing images from Google Images and using them for commercial use, thinking (or not thinking because they are incapable of rational thought) that what they're doing is just fine.

The prevailing attitude seems to be not getting caught means no foul.

Here's a picture of sneakers that were designed with one of my images.

Here's an article I wrote outing the company that provided the image.
http://bermangraphics.com/blog/the-orphan-rights-bill-our-greatest-fear/

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

WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 14 - 5 PM ET

What can an art fair do to bring serious buyers to attend their events to buy art?  

Our guests today are from two of the top rated shows in the country. Tne La Quinta Arts Festival is a large festival held in an affluent area in California. Art on the Square is in Belleville, Illinois, a small town near St. Louis with nearly the opposite demographics, yet both shows excel at bringing collectors to their events and their sales figures are "above average."

How do they do it?

The guests are:

• Christi Salamone, Executive Director, La Quinta Arts Festival, La Quinta, CA 
• Kathleen Hughes, Events Manager, La Quinta Arts Festival
• Patty Gregory, Director, Art on the Square, Belleville, IL

Anyone who has ever run an art fair, or thought they wanted to run an art fair, will learn a lot from these experienced guests. Do you want lots of applications to your show? The most important thing an event can do is bring in those committed buyers.

Learn more: blogtalkradio.com/artfairs/2013/08/14/how-to-bring-buyers-to-the-art-fairs

Call in to speak with the host: 805-243-1338

This should be a "must listen" podcast for any art show directors. If you have questions you would like me to ask the guests please post them in the comments below, or call in! The second half of the show we will take live calls.

Now that the dust has settled, and I'm back in the relative comfort of my home studio, I thought it would be a good time to share with you some of my thoughts on three of the biggest shows in the country. You all have heard of Des Moines, Cherry Creek (in Denver) and Ann Arbor. Many of you may have applied, and probably a few have done these shows in the past.

I was excited to be accepted into Cherry Creek. I'd applied every year since I began doing shows, and this year my work was top-notch. The new booth shot shows my work just exactly as it appears in shows where I exhibit with a single booth. My jury images are compelling, and represent my current body of work well. And I'd already had a good season lined up: Gasparilla, Vero Beach, Winter Park in Florida; Bayou City and the Woodlands in Texas; Brookside, in Kansas City (where it snowed and was 39 degrees)… so I was pumped for this best-in-class summer schedule.

I left a big hole in my schedule in June to prepare for these shows. Luckily I only made it to #13 on the wait list for Columbus, so I didn't have to make the trek to Ohio and wrestle with any Buckeyes for their hard-earned dollars. I made sure that I had enough inventory for four shows in a row, since I wouldn't be in studio but a couple of days from the time I left for Des Moines to the Tuesday setup for Ann Arbor.
So, on to the meat.

Des Moines Art Festival
A big show, the Des Moines Art Festival (DMAF) is spread out over several city blocks in downtown Des Moines. My location, at the very end of the show, was easy to access, and had plenty of room to park the trailer and pickup while unloading. Parking for artists is an easy two block walk away, with lots of space, guarded by a high cyclone fence. It was windy during setup, and for most of the show, but we had very little precip. Des Moines is noted for big storms, one of which took out several booths and a large tent a couple of years back. Crowds were good all three days, but Friday seemed slow.

We had a small tree behind our booth blow over with a loud crack, but luckily it didn't hit anything. Sold more work on Saturday and Sunday, many matted photographs, and a few larger framed pieces. I was happy with my sales, in the end, although many artists did not meet their expectations. DMAF is one of those shows with music, food, stilt walkers and other street entertainment, although none of it really gets in the way.

Awards were handed out on Friday night by Steven King, the director. Hours on Friday and Saturday are perhaps a tad long, with the show opening at 11 on Friday, and closing at 10PM. Saturday was even longer, opening at 10 and closing at 10PM. Sunday's hours are more reasonable, with an opening at 10 and breakdown at 5PM. All told, it's a well-run show, profitable, with many restaurants and hotels nearby.

We got acquainted with several of the microbreweries in the downtown area, most notably, Exile Brewing (http://exilebrewing.com/), near the artists' parking lot; and Court Avenue Brewing (http://www.courtavebrew.com/), the signature brew of the show. (Chris Vance did the t-shirts for the Court Ave./DMAF brews, and they are very very original.) We didn't get a chance to go in Raccoon River, also downtown. We stayed at the Holiday Inn on the edge of downtown, and there are a couple other hotels nearby as well, a Hyatt Place and a Marriott, both with discounted prices for artists (still pricey, though).

The "Other Show", an alternative to the DMAF, runs concurrently out at the fairgrounds, and since the weather was warm, not hot; and not rainy, attendance and sales there suffered. I imagine it would be the other way around if the weather were nasty.

Cherry Creek Art Festival
Arguably the best festival in the country, Cherry Creek knows it, and charges booth fees accordingly. While I was happy to have been accepted, a single corner booth at Cherry Creek runs a whopping $950! Electricity is another $50, and parking for an oversize vehicle is yet another $50. And you have to pony up for a State of Colorado Special Events Tax License ($8) and a City/County of Denver Special Events Tax License ($5). That out of the way, you do stand a pretty good chance of making your expenses back on top of a tidy profit at Cherry Creek.

The show is set on several long blocks around Cherry Creek North, an upscale shopping center in the Glendale area, southeast of downtown Denver. Access to freeways is good, and hotels are plentiful along Colorado Avenue, just a couple miles away from the show. Lots of restaurants at Cherry Creek, and down Colorado, too.

I got there a couple days early, and went hiking up in the Rockies, at Estes Park. Managed to see several alpine lakes and waterfalls on a ten-mile jaunt up to Sky Pond. It was nice to get out into the woods and just walk for a change. I also shot out on the prairie one evening, and put a few extra miles on the truck looking for interesting subjects.

Setup for the show is relaxed on Thursday. Get your booth packet in the morning at the show office on Steele St. (park in the Safeway parking lot across the street), and then setup according to your assigned time. We were never rushed, and got the tent up  and the art hung in calm, very warm weather. Our neighbors were from New Mexico on the one side (a very nice woman with absolutely gorgeous hand-made woven fabrics, scarves and shawls) and a painter who I'd seen on the forums before on the other, with a double booth.

We got done with the setup and went to park the trailer in the "oversize" lot. Parking for our section was behind the street, in a narrow parking ramp that could not accommodate a trailer over a certain size, so I paid to park it in a surface lot a block away. But oversize was a misnomer. My assigned, paid spot, was barely large enough to fit a trailer into, and if the space next to me hadn't been vacant, there would have been NO way I could have maneuvered my trailer into the very very tight spot. I was blocked in the front by vendor refrigerated trailers, and had to jackknife the trailer to even come close to sliding it into the spot. Luckily, it did fit, and we left it there for the duration of the show. Other parking looks to be available on the residential streets, but some of it is permitted parking only, and some it is time-restricted.

The show runs three days -- Friday, Saturday and Sunday. While it never seemed as if we were slammed with traffic, we were constantly busy wrapping, selling and talking with customers. I've never sold so many matted prints at a show. Karyn, my wife, was kept busy running between the tent and the trailer to restock images that we sold. When we pulled out of the show on Sunday night, we had only sold one large framed piece and one small one. All the rest of our sales were matted prints, in multiples and singly. But it was the best show, sales-wise, I've done to date. We definitely made money there.
The crowd has money, and I suspect that larger work might do well there, especially big wall-filler decor pieces. John Scanlan had a big booth right in the thick of things, for example. Our fiber neighbor had a great show, but the painter next to me on the other side did not fare so well. He had two walls with a single triptych on each. Beautiful work, well-executed, but he couldn't find a market this weekend. We did have a good time there, however, when we had time to chat.

The awards ceremony was very nice, held in the culinary demonstration area. Aaron Hequembourg won Best of Show here, as well as at Des Moines the week before. Crazy. Food was barely adequate, however, and we went back to the hotel and grabbed a quick bite before hitting the sack. (We stayed at the Courtyard which has a decent sized surface lot, and was fairly inexpensive, compared to the Marriott at the show site. It was still not cheap to stay in downtown Denver. Other hotels are out by the airport, but a bit of a drive).

Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff
Technically not part of the trifecta, nevertheless Krasl is a fine show, well-juried and pleasant to do. I drove home from Denver through Kansas, along I-70, looking for agrarian subjects, and had a day to prepare for Krasl before heading back to setup at St. Joseph, MI. The show is on the bluff, overlooking Lake Michigan. Very well-run by Sara Shambarger and staff, we were across the way from jeweler friends Marc & Wendy Zoschke. I won't go into detail about this show, but I was disappointed after Cherry Creek. Let's just leave it at that, shall we?

And, by the way, NEVER NEVER eat at El Cozumel in St. Joseph. OMG. Worst Mexican ever. And the hotels are an absolutely rip-off during high season in St. Joe. I paid an exorbitant amount to stay at the Comfort Suites in Benton Harbor for two nights. The show does have an artist housing program that we did not take advantage of. Perhaps next time. I would do the show again, however, as it is perhaps the nicest show in Western Michigan. A lot less work than the show I'm going to talk about next.

Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair (The Original)
The grandaddy of all summer art festivals, Ann Arbor is well-known in the industry for its long hours, wacky four-day schedule (Wednesday-Saturday), many vendor booths and kling-on shows (Kings Chosen, merchant booths) and general junkieness. Still, it's a show that many aspire to get into, and if you're going to do Ann Arbor, the Original is the best-juried. The Guild show on Main Street has its proponents; some folks swear buy (and at) Maggie Ladd's South U show, and the State Street show is the easiest to get into as an entry level show. If you want to be in the cream of the crop, the Original is the show you want to do. Many patrons only visit this show, since the crush of tourists and shoppers can be overwhelming at the other venues.

But this year, it didn't happen. The weather was beastly beastly hot, almost 100 degrees on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Crowds were anemic at best, and the Original and South U shows attract less lookers, since they are a bit further away from the downtown show. It was shocking how few people attended on the first three days of the show. Sales understandably were slow to non-existent. Saturday the dam finally burst, and I sold enough to make a decent profit. But for a show with five full days of work (a setup day and four selling days with hours from 10-9PM), the amount of work vastly exceeds the money made.

I love Ann Arbor dearly. My wife works in Ann Arbor, and we have a place to park the trailer and the truck. We drive 55 miles each way, every day, to sleep at home in our own bed. But after Des Moines, Cherry Creek and Krasl, we were absolutely tapped out.

Much has been said about the Ann Arbor Art Fairs. They are too big. The hours are too long. They could move the schedule from W-Sat to Th-Sun. They could close the show a little earlier. They could have fewer artists. They could have it in a cooler month. Blah, blah, blah. It's not going to happen. The merchants have pretty much killed the golden goose here. At least the Original is around the University, so there are no t-shirt and cheap jewelry booths to contend with. OMG. If I see one more Urban Outfitter bag I'm going to throw up in my mouth. It's the saddest thing. And many of the patrons agree. Too long, too much junk, too hot, too bad.

So there you have it. My impressions of the Trifecta + One. I have another killer schedule come fall. Arts, Beats & Eats, followed by Art & Apples, here in Michigan. Hometown shows. Then another road trip, including Plaza in Kansas City, Riverwalk in Naperville, IL, and two Texas shows. Maybe after that, I can rest. I'm gonna be needin' it.

This post is too long to add pictures -- when I finally get the shots off my iPhone and out of my camera, I'll do a pictorial essay. If you'd like that, let me know in the comments.
TTFN.

This isn't a long rant....just upset at very rude public who have NO idea what it takes to be an exhibitor. I am disgusted by the people who stand and examine a piece to death then talk about how THEY can make it!! At least walk away from in front of me and talk amongst yourselves!!

I lost my temper and said " I CAN HEAR YOU!! You do that and let me know how it goes!"  I apologized to the others folks...which had them ALL agreeing with us (my daughter was included in this) and bought like crazy.

Sometimes...you just have to say whats on your mind!

Now back to your regularly scheduled program...

September 28  
Chesterton, Indiana
Thomas Centennial Park
109 Broadway
Presented by: Frontline Foundations, Inc.
9am-5pm
Deadline: August 20

Pack your unique creations and join us on Saturday, September 28, in Chesterton, Indiana, where the Second Annual Frontline Foundations "Hooked on Art" live street art festival will be in full swing.

We would like to extend an invitation to all chalk artists, graffiti artists, acrylic artists, sculptors, and more.  Artists must be comfortable working in a "live" format with a work of art completed by the close of the festival.  Also, live artists will be eligible to win prizes such as "People's Choice" or "Best in Show", as examples.  Details will follow.  Don't delay, space is limited. 

Follow this link:  www.hookedonartfestival.com/#!calling-all-artists and click "Download Live Artist Application."   

• Read carefully and be sure to include all supplemental materials such as photos, sketches, etc...
• Incomplete or late applications will NOT be eligible for review. 
• Applications will be reviewed by the Hooked on Art Committee and if approved you will be notified within 30-days of receipt of your application, but no later than August 20.  
• Please note:  all materials submitted for review will NOT be returned.

        For more info or questions please follow: www.hookedonartfestival.com or contact Derek Frazier at (219)728-1638

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

Find even more art fairs to fill up your 2013 season: www.CallsforArtists.com

We had some great writing and discussions in July with much food for thought and comment. Please vote for this month's winners:

• June 30 - Deborah Potash Brodie, "It's the Law"
• July 4 - Valerie Tyler, "Being Respectful of All Buyers"
• July 14 - Lisa Foster, "Edmonds Art Festival Review 2013, Perspective of a Painter"
• July 22 - Alison Thomas, "Blowing Rock Review"
• July 24 - Mary Johnston, "OUCH - the Zero Show"

Also, please choose someone who was especially helpful on AFI this month to win the Community Leader Award.

Nominees: Kay Cummins, Pat Finney, Chris Pawlik, Scott Pakulski, Mary Johnston, Gloria Marlow and Joan Tweedell

Deadline for voting: August 14, 6 pm ET

Click here to take survey

Brighton’s Fine Art & Acoustic Music Festival and Milford Memories... curious...

Has anyone have review information on either of these fairs?  I am working on my art fair wish list for 2014. I've had two different shoppers ask me if I would be going Brighton and one asked about Milford, so I am curious. This is my first summer, but I have noticed that I do better at fairs that are less craft oriented.

Thanks!!

I’m beat!, Exhausted, fried, wiped out... pick your adjective... I just finished the West Linn Fine Art Festival, Aug. 3-5. I did this show in 2011 and it was BAD (it was deserted), so you can’t say I didn’t know better. However, this year they were in a new venue which should have been better. And in some ways it was better. This year there were more people and they were buying. However, as has been the trend for me this year, all of my sales were of small items. And in this case, very small sales, with many single card sales. My average sale was $30 and my largest sale was $118. For me, it wasn’t a large enough attendance to make it on small ticket sales. I did make money, but only because it’s a local show for me. As I was tearing down on Sunday in 95 deg heat, I was wondering why I decided to try this show again.

This is a show that I want to work. It’s a show that ought to work. This year, it was on a new date and in a new venue set on a field on the Marylhurst University campus, set between the upscale Portland suburbs of West Linn and Lake Oswego. Booth fee is $200. It’s well organized, with lots of volunteers, snacks, water, coffee and juice for the artists. The majority of the show is laid out in quads, giving the artists plenty of room to set up and tear down. My set up time was 4pm. I decided to arrive early to beat the rush hour traffic and was allowed on the field early to set up. There was enough space that I could leisurely set up from my vehicle. It was cool during Friday setup. The show ran from 10-6 on Sat and 10-5 on Sunday.

There were two artist shuttle lots, one for smaller and one for larger vehicles. Shuttles were supposed to run every 15 mins but I waited over 30 mins on Sat morning. Saturday started out overcast and cool but heated up once the clouds disappeared. The buying energy was different than when I did this show two years ago. Or maybe I should say there actually was buying energy this year. I left on Sat evening with hopes for good Sunday sales. Sunday started out hot and got hotter. By 3:30 PM I was about done for. People did show up but I sold considerably less on Sunday than Saturday. A few of my neighbors had large late Sunday sales. Most of the artists I talked to were disappointed with their sales overall.

Load out was similar to load in. I partially dismantled my display and packed up what I could and took the shuttle to get my car and the rest of my packing materials. At that point, around 6pm, my car said it was 95 degrees. I had planned on parking and bringing in the rest of my packing materials before taking my car onto the field, but there was ample space so I finished packing and loading directly into my vehicle. It saved me at least 40 mins load out time.

The organizers of this show may be on the right track with changing the venue and they are trying. There were definitely qualified buyers at this event and the art was good. A number of buyers were confused which show this was. They weren’t sure if it was the West Linn Fine Art Festival or another local show called Art in the Forest (which was cancelled for this year.) It will be a show I will watch and hope it takes off in this new location, but for the next couple of years, at least, it’s not one I’ll apply for.

So, I am past the halfway point of this season. Seven shows down and six to go... But being this just my second year on the art fair scene, I see a positive trend. Yes, for the year I am still in the red at this point; but that amount is coming down significantly with each show! I honestly think I will be in the black by year end (for 2013).

I know I've been averaging about $1000 a show. If this keeps up, I will end the year on a positive note! This is a business! Yes, art is my passion but seeing the amount in the red shrink with each show is encouraging!

So, a question to the veterans out there, how long before you made it into the black? I think this is a good question to ask for all the newbies out there...

Hello gang! This year was my second time doing the University of Toledo's (Ohio) Alumni Association's Art on the Mall art fair. Last year was not so great. I only sold one 5x7 print for $25 in the prior edition. But since I am a University of Toledo alum, I consider my booth fee a donation to my Alma Mater...

However, this year was totally different. I sold $835 this year! Which the show is a one day event from 10AM to 5PM on the last Sunday of July. If you do the math, yes I was over a $100 per hour... Plus, I sold two large framed pieces. First show in which I've sold two large pieces. The arrows show the two that sold...

The fair is easy to set up and tear down. You can drive your vehicle to your tent location. And the volunteers that help out during the show were fabulous. They delivered water to your booth through the day and even asked me multiple times if I need someone to watch my booth for a restroom break. Since the show is now more than 20 years old, yes they have figured out how to treat an artist with an army of volunteers. Yes, there was that many! Probably fellow alums like myself.

But, I do have one issue about the show. My booth location was 53. I was slightly off the beaten path. What we noticed was that the food court is at the end of the main entrance to the fair. The booths by University Hall and Stranaham Hall saw a whole lot more traffic than mine. That's because the path (highlighted in green) would start at the green arrow and get to the food court and double back at the red arrow. I had little foot traffic where I was. So it was amazing that I made $835. I would think a better location for the food court would be at the middle of the mall (wonder why food courts are always at the middle of a shopping mall?)

Well, one of my purchasers drove from Cleveland to get a specific framed piece. He saw it at Crocker Park (early June - suburban Cleveland) on a date. He came to this show by himself. So yes, I guess I have a following too. Something else that I learned at this show! And yes, I will be asking for a different booth location next year!

Greetings, 

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa, where I've recently arrived after exhibiting at the Geneva (Illinois) Fine Arts Fair.

Do you remember a month or so ago, when on these very pages, I posted a blog article titled A Walk Through At The Des Moines Summer Arts Festival?  No?  Well, here's a link:   

http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/a-walk-through-at-the-des-moines-summer-art-festival-2013/edit

Basically, I gave the good folk at the Des Moines Arts Festival a bit of grief for the carnival-like atmosphere I encountered there, just as a visitor.  Maybe you thought I was targeting them, but no, they were just a convenient example.  In fact, in that very blog post, I contrasted the Des Moines Arts Festival with events like Krasl Art Fair On The Bluff, and Geneva Fine Arts Fair.  I said both Krasl and Geneva seem to be successful art events focused strictly on visual art.  No two blocks of food court, no Habitat For Humanity House being built at the art fair, no beer garden, no big stage music venues.

In that same blog post, I said I was concerned that too many art fairs are turning into carnival settings where the artists are just another facet of the entertainment collected to treat people who no longer come to buy art.  But rather just to be entertained.

One commentor on the post said that we have to "educate the next generation of art buyers".  Another commentor called Krasl and Geneva "regional shows".  (Did I detect scoffing?  Yes.)  

And now you are all pumped and primed for the afore promised review, eh?

The Geneva Fine Arts Fair, ably managed by Erin Melloy, and crew, was professionally organized from check in until check out.  Load in and out was simple - drive right up to the booth, drive out, and park in closely located (1 block from my booth) free parking.  The normal artist breakfast of bagels and coffee, an ample supply of artist awards.  Booth sitters available, although I did have a time mid afternoon on Saturday where I struggled to find one.  One came just before I resorted to calling one of the numbers included in the check in info.  For all painters, note that Geneva is an all originals event, no reproductions, giclees, none of that stuff.  (thank you Erin, I truly appreciate that factor - it's how you first got my attention, back when)  There are several cafes/restaurants on the street where the event happen.  Probably a few more dogs in attendance than necessary.

Should we talk about patrons now?  You know, they were pretty focused on seeing the art.  Lots of good conversations, some people wanted to talk art styles, some people wanted to ask questions about what they were seeing, how it was done, why it was done that way.  A nice mix.  Lots of adults/parents/grandparents with kids in tow, taking time to point out interesting tidbits to said kiddos.

Did I mention that art was being sold?  Much art.  Large paintings walked out, both days, and yes, thank you, several of them mine.  I was pleased with sales for the first time all summer.

For the commentor on the original Des Moines art festival review insisting that we needed to entertain people, draw a crowd, to educate young art buyers, I would like to say there were young people in good attendance.  In my booth at least, they seemingly came to buy art rather than drink beer.  Surprise, surprise.  And it causes me to ask, what better way to educate future art patrons than to give them good art to look at, rather a food court or a big stage music event?

Time to close.  Thank you Erin for a well run art fair.  I hope to exhibit with you again next summer.  To art fair directors elsewhere, please take a good hard look at your events.  Are you running a carnival, or an art fair?  Maybe next year, pare down the size of that food court.  Remove that lottery wheel corporate sponsor.  Yay for sponsoring a Habitat For Humanity House build, but do it where it belongs.  Think about it.   And thanks for reading.

KCooper

http://karencooperpaintings.com

The Sleep Inn on Preston Hwy is offering a discounted rate for artists $59.00 a night. They are sold out for Wed. but  have 25 rooms left for Thur, Fri & Sat. If you are interested call Judy Osborne she is the sales director at the hotel and is giving us this rate, her number is 502-368-9597 she is in Mon-Fri and she'll book you directly, or contact her through e-mail @ josborne@hamisterhospitality.com   All the hotels in the area are either sold out or close to it so take advantage of this offer quickly as it's almost sold out too.

This was my first time doing this Art Festival. From the start with detailed advance information and active advertising I felt that it would be a terrifically well-organized event. My initial reaction proved to be true.

The event is held in downtown Salt Lake City on the narrow one-way streets within an outdoor, high-end mall (The Gateway). Each artist was assigned a load-in time, given 15 minutes to off-load their booth materials and artwork. A booth-sitter showed up at about the 10-minute point and watched everything while the artist parked his/her car. For those of us with cars, parking was less than 2 blocks away in an attended lot for which we were provided an all-day pass. For artists with trailers, parking was in a large dirt lot about 3-4 blocks away.

The festival day dawned in the 80s and rapidly shot up to over 100. There were a reasonable number of pedestrians who showed interest in the art between the 10 am start and 6 pm; however the heat tended to encourage them to move to indoor film festival and other cooler venues (outdoor stage near misting fountain). So, sales didn't pick-up until the sun was low in the sky and everyone felt cooler. Even in the heat of the day, when no one felt like trying on my jewelry or my neighbor's fiber art, I had great interest in picking up my printed schedule for identifying future "cooler" days--a number of those folks showed up a week later at another Sat. venue and bought items.

During this HOT day, volunteers strolled the venue with cold water for the artists. As soon as I hung my (provided) "Booth-sitter Needed" sign, a volunteer would materialize so I could take a break in the air-conditioned VIP (artists and volunteers) room. Water and snacks were provided there as well as a convenient restroom.

At the end of the festival (8 pm), an orderly "evacuation" plan was staged. We were only allowed to bring our car in to load up as the artist a specific number of booths "upstream" (relative to one-way direction) left.

Thoughtful anticipation of artists' needs showed from start to finish in this festival.

BTW, I 'm a jewelry artist, designing with natural materials--wire-wrapped pendants, gemstones, pearls, and wood used in necklaces and bracelets. I make unique designs--lots of time spent selecting materials and ordering beads to make the piece. Some of you would call me a "stringer" but I consider that a term for those crafters who buy beads and string them as is. I am an artist--but that's for another discussion, not this review.

Now that we are at the end of July, I’m finally catching up on show reviews for July. Between having our house close on July 18th and having shows 3 out of the 4 weekends in July, I’ve definitely fallen behind on show reviews. This show is always held the weekend after 4th of July and with the 4th being on a Thursday this year, we decided to depart Seattle a day earlier and spend some R&R time on our favorite island, Whidbey Island. This year’s festival was scheduled for July 6-7.

The Choochokam Arts festival is all volunteer run and this year they changed directors. That turned out to be a bit of a fiasco, organization at this show has never been great, last year it seemed to be improving over prior years and it seemed like they were “getting their act together. This year’s organization was the worst it has been in the 5 years we’ve participated, organization and communication was horrible. At midnight on the 4th of July emails went out to most of the artists asking for their insurance. What? Yes, we had sent in our proof of insurance but they changed that to needing us to have them listed as a named insured. OK, so that meant Friday morning instead of enjoying a cup of coffee and lounging my morning away, I was having to deal with contacting our insurance company and then figuring out how to get a copy of it printed since we had already left our house and our printer behind. Then we received another email saying we hadn’t paid the last half of our booth fees, but could pay at check in on Friday evening. OK, no big deal, but really, you would have thought they realized they didn’t have all the artists fees yet. Normally I’m more on top of that and had realized a week or two before that we were never even notified about our booth location, payment or official acceptance. So I had emailed and finally received the load in info, but based on all the comments for a Face Book group I’m on, we were not the only ones with all the last minute notifications, etc. In fact, it sounds like almost everyone got the same emails. Gotta love Thursday midnight emails when Friday is a travel day and load in times are Friday night. With many of the artists battling Friday afternoon traffic through Seattle and then waiting for the ferry to Whidbey Island, that didn’t leave a lot of time to deal with the last minute show requirements. And for those artists who are procrastinators and still needed to pack or were trying to finish that one last piece??? Definitely added some unneeded stress for the artists.

Another big change for this year was the booth layout. In the past the booths on our street were all quads, this year they set them up in groups of 6 with the 2 inner booths being “dead zones” and that’s where they put all the new artists, including AFI’er Steph Mader. I’m guessing these inside booths only saw about ½ the foot traffic the rest of us saw. The show also seemed really excited that they added more booths and had more artists than ever before. That left a lot of scratching our heads, do they not realize that’s just less dollars per artist as they spread the spending out more????

With the additional booths, we were concerned that load in would be difficult so we took our time after checking in, knowing we would be among the last to load in based on our booth location. We had a leisurely dinner and then showed up to load in and had no issues. Most of the artists said it seemed better than prior years, although some still had to wait 30-60 minutes past their designated time to be able to drive to their spot. This is one of the shows where they really micro manage the load in, are a little more relaxed for load out. Again, due to the additional booths, load out was a bit more problematic this year, took us a little longer and we ended up parking a couple of booths away from our spot and having to hand cart things. Load in, they had volunteers available, would have loved to see a few more volunteers at load out when we were lugging our stuff around.

Overall we still had a good show, within $15 of last year’s total sales, however, many of the artists I talked to reported lower than normal sales for this event. It was the normal mixed bag of results, a few artists had one or two large sales that made their show, most of the newbies for this show weren’t happy, but that was due to booth placement. Our sales on Saturday were way off from previous years, Sunday sales were the best Sunday sales we’ve ever had at this show. We sold one of our $500 necklaces that a customer had to go home Saturday and think about, her husband talked into going back on Sunday and buying it!! We also had 2 fairly large sales to customers who had bought smaller items in the past and decided this was the year they were buying a bigger, more expensive piece, so we had fewer sales on Sunday compared to Saturday, but the average purchase per customer was triple the amount.

This is one of our favorite shows to participate in, location could not be better, but of course, we are somewhat partial to Whidbey Island. What’s not to like about island life? A little slower pace of life, beautiful scenery in all directions with the Puget Sound, Olympic and Cascade mountains, lots of charming little towns and an island that really supports artists. Will we do this again? Probably, it’s an expensive show to do with a $390 booth/license/application fee plus the ferry fees which for our truck / 5th wheel totaled $125 round trip, plus having to pay camping fees at the local fairgrounds, however ferry / camp fees are a lot less than the cost of a hotel on this island.

I attended the Syracuse Art and Crafts Festival this past weekend. All in all, I thought it was a good show. It is held in part of the old downtown area amongst many churches, and other public buildings on tree lined streets. It made for a very nice setting for an Art Festival. 
There were a lot of artists participating and I am sure other AFI folks were there, but I just didn't find them. 

The folks putting on the show recommend that you do not set up on Thursday, so Friday morning was a little hectic with parking, but there were police officers there to keep lanes open and keep everyone moving and getting ready. Because of the police officers help, everyone was cleared out and ready to go at the 10 AM starting time. Artist could submit their work Friday morning to be judged, and it didn't have to be submitted until 11:30 which was also nice because it allowed us to get the booth open and then have time to take the work to be judged. There were coffee and breakfast snacks as well as restrooms in the same building that the judging was taking place and that building was centrally located for most of the artists. I was fortunate enough to have some really talented artists booths around mine and in general the show had a lot of talented folks displaying. 

The crowds on Friday were not very large as one would expect on a work day although it was clear that some folks came to the festival on their lunch breaks as many could be seen wearing their work id's. 

For me the highlight of the weekend came Friday afternoon late when a young lady came to my booth and presented me with a ribbon of excellence for one of my pieces. I was really excited about that, but REALLY got excited when she also handed me a nice check to go with the ribbon. I had never received a ribbon at an art event before and was quite pleased that the judges thought enough of my natural edged walnut bench to award me the prize for woodworking. 

Saturday the crowds came and it was a good day both in terms of sales and meeting new folks. I chatted with my neighbors and they were doing well, but most seemed to think that this year wasn't up to the quality of past years.

Sunday the rains came. It rained off and on for most of the morning and didn't finally start to clear off until about 2 PM. I had figured that Sunday was going to be a wash ( pun intended ) but early Sunday morning we had folks with umbrellas walking and looking at things. I sold a few items on Sunday and did better than I had expected. 

Load out! OMG! The combination of the quaint tree lined (narrow) streets, everyone trying to leave at once, and the aforementioned police officers not being present made for a zoo of everyone trying to occupy the same spot at the same time. Actually, most of the artists were working together to help each other to make sure vehicles could clear each other and moving vehicles if that was needed. Sadly, there were a couple of artists that apparently never learned to share and parked their vehicles too far toward the middle of the road and absolutely refused to move or try to help others. 

Other than the confusion of load out, in my opinion, this was a very well run event and one I hope to attend in the future. Maybe, it like most shows, was better in the past, but with todays economy, one has to do with what one is offered. 

Yes, if something is planned to occur annually, and this is the first time it will happen, it is perfectly correct to say "first annual."

This is absolutely wrong according to the rules of grammar and English. The first time you hold any event it is the "inaugural" and the next year would be the "2nd annual".

You intend for the event to take place a second time, but you aren't sure it will (life happens). You never know what might happen in a year.....safer to call the first event "inaugural".

Ask any grammar or journalism teacher!

Okay, now that that is out of the way I'd like to report on the "(Inaugural) Cheesman Park Art Festival". Many of you are probably familiar with the Rio Grande folks and Ruth Gore who, for 25 years, have done their part in Albuquerque during the Balloon Fest in Oct. If I have my facts straight...her daughter Liz moved to Denver, created "Dash Events" and decided to create a new show here. I had my reservations (and reported on that with my blog "Too Many Shows...") about yet another show in the Denver area as I was concerned about the possibilities of show burnout for the attendees. I had a free weekend, didn't have to drive far, didn't have to stay in a motel, didn't have to...you get the idea. So, why not try something new and different? I hadn't done any Denver area shows (Peoples Fair? Forget it. Cherry Creek, haven't been invited yet!) in a long time and it was worth the gamble.

On to the particulars...

Logistics: The show was staged in one of the nicest parks in the Denver area. Cheesman Park is just west of the Denver Botanic Gardens which is located about 5 blocks north of where the Cherry Creek Arts Festival is held. Apparently this was the first of its kind in this park location.The neighborhood, even on a good day, is not parking friendly. This area has a lot of apartment buildings as-well-as old large family homes converted to apartments. To say the least street parking is NOT plentiful. The show provided a shuttle from a nearby high school but it wasn't available on Fri.

Loading in and loading out couldn't have been much easier. The hardest part was making a hard left turn, when I got into the park, to get around the barriers. Hopped outta the "Art Mobile" and was greeted by the friendly staff at the main tent. Got my packet, and as I had done my homework, knew where my booth space was supposed to be. Booth spaces were already chalked out along the roadway. The clusters of tents were laid out in such a way that there was plenty of space to park opposite my booth space and unload. Liz allowed for the option of locals, or others that could, to get early access and, as I had signed up for it, I was in at 1:00 with about 30 other artists. The extra 1 1/2 hour early load-in option gave me plenty of time to set up the tent, unload my boxes and then move outta the way for others.

Tents were staggered so that there was a row of about 10 tents on one side of the road and then the next row of ten were on the opposite side of the road. This left plenty of browsing space for the patrons. I hope they keep that set-up as it made things less chaotic overall.

Show Hours: Set-up was in the afternoon on Fri before the show from 2:30 till 6 or so. Saturday show hours were 10-8 and Sunday was from 10-5. I think the show probably could have been shortened to 6 or 7 on Saturday as the crowd was pretty thin by then. Someone once told me "Its better to leave the party while it is still fun then to be the last one to leave!" I think that same philosophy would be applicable here as well. By 8:00 it was already too dark to see into the tents, except for the one photographer who was smart enough to have set up his lights, and the crowd had thinned substantially.

Amenities: On Friday, when it was so hot that I thought I was going to pass out as I set up, one of the show staff came around with a wagon of cold soda, just in time! When I checked on Sat morning there was coffee but as I don't drink it I didn't care. Other than that I don't think there were any other offerings...correct me if I'm wrong on that. The staff was very attentive in walking the show on a regular basis which I think is a good thing for a promoter to do rather than handing you the packet and that's the last you see of them. Although they didn't specifically report it, I asked one of the blue T-shirt clad people if they were booth sitters and they said, "Sure, if you need anything just let us know!"

Demographics: The area itself is mixed with the young upwardly mobile as-well-as the long time established so there was a great mix of ages at the show. Not the usual second home retirees who have no wall space that I'm used to in some of the AZ shows that I've done.

Food: What, no corn dogs, no popcorn, no overpriced anything? Nope, what they did have were some of the nicest catering trucks  with food prices that were not exorbitantly jacked up for the captive audience! I missed out on some of it on Saturday as we ordered out from a nearby restaurant but I took advantage of the El Toro El Tot wagon on Sunday for lunch. An incredible burger and tots that were seasoned with oregano and other secret spices, awesome! The whole meal + local soda=$10 I've paid more than that for the extra long corn dog and watered down lemonade!

Quality of the Art: This was a mixed bag. I think it was pretty wide. Not that the offerings were bad just that I thought some of the booths might have been better placed at a craft show. So, my question to the promoters would be, "What kind of a show are you wanting to promote? Is it just fine arts? Is it crafts also?" I guess the name of the show is open and vague enough to fit any bill.

Reflections: I thought that Liz and her crew did a great job for a first time show. Having been around the show promotion biz I'm sure she learned a lot from her mom. In fact Ruth was around for the show as well. All the staff showed enthusiasm, as evidenced by their happy faces, and were genuinely nice to every one. They didn't have the ho-hum look, and detached indifference, on their faces that I've seen on some other long time fair promoters faces. Things ran smoothly.

Now, the really important part...did people show up for the show? You bet! In fact when I sent a message out to my wife I told her I thought it was like a mini-Cherry Creek crowd! Not only were they walking the show but they were actually crowding into the booths (not like the walking dead I've seen lately, or the ones looking for free weekend entertainment) They really wanted to engage with the artists and were good critical viewers. I barely was able to get in a few minutes of rest-my-feet time from greeting people who came in.

Did they buy? Yes, indeed! In fact, after having had 3 stinker shows in a row prior to this one my expectations were pretty low. In terms of my bottom line it was the most profitable show I've had all year next to Topeka. Would I do it again, yes, without reservation.

So, overall, I'd say that Liz did a great job getting a new show off the ground, showed the right kind of enthusiasm and attention to the artists, provided a nice atmosphere for the patrons and got them out to see what was going on. A resident who lived adjacent to the park said that she had seen the tents going up on Friday and was a little concerned about what might be going on but was very enthusiastic about the quality of the show when she came out to walk it. What better endorsement than that could you want? Hopefully, there will be a "2nd Annual Cheesman Park Art Festival"!

I found this in a magazine that nolonger exists but for those of you who need help with doing a review of a show here is a template.  Magazine folded in 2009.

Event Evaluation Form

In our continuing commitment to improving The Crafts Fair Guide, we have upgraded to a more reliable online review process for The Crafts Fair Guide. As always we appreciate any feedback. Thank you for taking the time to submit your Evaluation for the event you attended.

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