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.

Event Information
Show ID: (if known)
City:
State:
Start Date:	End Date:
Promoter Name:
Event Name:
Weather:
	(example: Overcast, Raining, Sunny, etc...)
Environment:
Describe Venue:
	(example: In the Parking Lot adjacent to Sunset Park)

Sales :
Attendance :
Enjoyability :
Public Mood :
Buying Power :
Organization :

We were anticipating a good weekend for this year’s Sequim Lavender Festival Street Fair (July 19-21). The weather forecast was PERFECT!!  Unlike last year where it rained 2 out of 3 days and everything was a soggy mess with a river running through our booth.   However, we still did well enough last year to say it was worth returning, thinking that perfect weather would bring out bigger crowds and improve our sales.   With a forecast of sunshine and temps in the 70’s we were anticipating a huge crowd and a fun weekend.

Logistic details really haven’t changed for this show, I gave quite a few details in last year’s blog.  We had the same booth location as last year with the same great location to park our 5^th wheel.  Gotta love these shows that give us free RV parking with walking distance of the booth, got to go “home” for lunch each day, never had to use the porta potties once all weekend.  Yep, there are some advantages to having a home on wheels parked close by. 

Last year’s blog for anyone interested in logistics:  http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/sequim-lavender-festival-2012

A couple of changes from last year, booth fees went up by $20 and the artist hospitality booth was eliminated.  So, with our RV parked so close we ended up providing coffee for a couple of artist friends who were car camping and didn’t realize the hospitality booth was gone and had expected to at least have a cup of coffee and a bagel or something at the show. 

End results for this year?  Down 25% from last year, not quite what we had hoped for or expected.  Friday we started off with great sales, we only had 11 sales all day, most of the in the morning, but they were large sales.  Our average sale was over $100 per sale so we were very pleased, thinking we were off to a great start for the weekend.   That turned out to be our best sales day, much to our dismay.  Saturday the crowd seemed to change drastically, all low price point sales, lots of requests for discounts, more comments / surprise when we charged sales tax, like they thought this was a hobby, not a business.   Sunday sales were even worse, about ½  of Saturday and the crowd never materialized making for a very slow day and way too much time to visit with our artist friends.

So, is this a show we’ll do again? Not sure, the sales we had this weekend were about on par with a 2 day show that we did for 5 years before trying this one last year, held the same weekend with a lower booth fee and where we built a good following.  However, this one still attracts more people and tourists and just seems like a show where the overall results should be better. More thinking and analyzing to do on this one.

This was our 4^th year participating in this show in Eastern WA and this was the first time we left there totally mystified, not quite understanding what just happened, but definitely feeling as if we had been punched in the gut.

I’ve blogged about this show before, logistics, set up, etc. have not changed other than Friday was an hour shorter, they ended the show at 8 PM instead of 9 PM on Friday which was a welcome change for the artists.  The link to 2012’s blog, which has a link to 2011’s blog can be found here.  http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/art-in-the-park-allied-arts-richland-wa-july-27-28-2012

So what happened this year?  Definitely a lack of sales and a HUGE disappointment for almost all of the artists we talked to.  We were all assuming Friday’s weather and high temp of 102 caused a slower than normal Friday, plus the local Hanford plant that takes every other Friday off was not off this year on Friday.   Over the past few years their Friday off coincided with this show so we were all hoping they would show up on Saturday when the temps were supposed to be 8-10 degrees cooler.  Unfortunately the crowd did not materialize on Saturday. In fact, the crowd never really showed up, not like it has in the past.   We watched a small crowd walk through on Friday morning, then thin out considerably as the temperatures climbed, unlike prior years, the crowd never really returned in the evening. 

There also seemed to be more "no show" artists than usual. This show is held the same weekend as the 3 Bellevue shows with 800+ booths on the other side of the state.  After trying that madness and mayhem one time, we decided Allied Arts was a better option for us.  However, this is a show that some artists will apply to as a back up and if they get called off the waitlist for a Bellevue show, they forfeit their $80 booth fee and take a chance in Bellevue.  Interestingly enough, this year I was actually hearing some good reports from Bellevue unlike the past 3 years while I wasn't hearing that very many artists were happy with their sales here in Richland.  

We left there very disappointed and wondering if this year was an anomaly or this is a start of a new trend for this show.  And as always, since I have a tendency to over analyze everything, I’m sure we’ll be thinking about this between now and next March when we will need to apply for this show.

What a disappointment!  I had read the reviews of this show on AFI and while it sounded like there was a lot of B/S, there was still a chance to make some good bucks.

This is a Chamber of Commerce show (50^th anniversary) and they get a good crowd but it’s the wrong crowd for us. 

Staci’s work is all about color and most of the fine art that we saw going out here was traditional New England style seascapes.   It was the only show we’ve ever done where people came into the booth, tilted their heads and got a “what’s this bright stuff” look on their faces.  Only a few smiling “I love your colors” compared to what we normally see.

So we misjudged the opportunity here – bad on us.

Show specifics:  It’s an easy load-in/out with a fairly short dolly across the town green to almost any booth spot.  The volunteers were great and the Chamber put on a Friday night BBQ  (we didn’t attend because we have family in the area and were visiting with them.  The reports we heard were that the food was great.)

The show layout was confusing.   All spots were 15Wx10D so there was tons of room to set up almost any way you wanted.  The rows didn’t seem particularly straight though.

The aisles were very narrow and when coupled with the usual jerks who set up their director chairs and huge beach umbrellas in the middle of the aisle, traffic became congested and booth visibility impaired.  Come on guys – stay in your tents!

Exhibitors were all over the lot.  There was fine art but there was also buy/sell and several show veterans complained that it’s getting worse each year.  Also, I have never seen so much sea glass!  There were three sea glass booths within a four tent radius!

We did end up selling 4 nice canvas mounted pieces, a small framed piece, and a few reproductions so it wasn’t a disaster but it sure wasn’t what we were hoping for.

One highlight – I got to meet/talk to AFIer Carrie Jacobson.  Her contemporary landscapes are stunning.  If we didn’t live on a boat, I’d want one hanging on our walls.  I’ll let her chime in but I think she would agree that the body of work to be successful here needs to be quite different that what we both were exhibiting.

I am new to the Art Fair Blog but finding good information already. I have lifting issues (neck problems) but like the look of pro panels. I have the Light Dome tent with mesh walls and love them but need a nicer display for indoor shows this winter. Does anyone know where I can look for these other than ebay and craigs list?

We only did one summer show this year.  It was Northville's Art in the Sun.  The weather on the first day about took out the tents and unfortunately about 30% of the artists packed up and left.  Too bad for them because the rest of the weekend was beautiful.  Two tents over from me was a woman who was selling all sorts of boxes and trinkets obviously buy and sell.  And people were buying from her because her prices were understandably premade tiles.  Even though the organizers knew these people were hurting the sales of real artists, they did not ask them to leave.  The more I think about it the more I feel the rest of us are owed a refund on our jury fees. I won't do this show next year even though the people in charge were helpful and very nice.  I felt cheated the whole time I was watching this woman rake in a profit and cutting into the sales of legitimate artists around her. 

It is my feeling that if you are caught doing buy/sell that you should be removed from the show immediately.  It usually states this in the contract.  How do you feel about that?  Should we insist on jury fee refunds if a buy/sell participant is not removed from the show?