Did the 2nd Annual Dewey Beach Arts Festival (juried) last weekend with my hand-poured scented soy candles as my product. This is my craft business which supports my fine art show habit. So please don't make fun of a product which generates twice as much revenue as my award-winning fine art paintings...
The scheduled Saturday show date was an off-and-on stormy rain-out and thankfully show management called off the event via text and e-mail very, very, early in the AM after apparently staying up late to watch the weather (I got both - just before I headed out the door at 5 AM for my 7 AM set-up time)
Sadly some folks read the Friday e-mail which said things were a "GO", but forgot that the e-mail also said check your e-mail before you leave on show day as things might change with the weather. So a few folks showed up on Saturday after a several hour ride to find the show called due to weather - and then checked their e-mail and texts...............
The scheduled rain date was the day following and after a damp set-up, the weather turned sunny, warmed up and was beautiful.... A perfect Mother's Day - unless you're related to Mother Nature....... There was music, kids art and activities, some free food, fine art, photography, craft and jewelry.
I saw a 'professional' tent rental company come in and rebar-stake a rental tent right into the asphalt of a town street...I was wondering why the underground utilities were marked....now I knew why... Couldn't believe I was watching this guy sledging rebar through the asphalt.. knowing there was a natural gas line running down his side of the street. The underground utilities mark-outs are only so accurate (as I know from my environmental geology days of drilling monitoring wells in urban settings) and you just don't go punching rebar into the asphalt several feet without a whole lot more information on the utilities.... Reviewed the show rules - there was nothing in there about staking in the street.........
Unfortunately, this beautiful weather was due to a frontal boundary passing through with very closely spaced isobars (this means it's gonna get real windy) The winds got to sustained 20-30 mph with higher gusts and they called the show 1/2 hr early...
To my knowledge, despite a preponderance of EZ-ups, nobody had any tent flying/collapsing/sailing - and this is because show management stressed bringing lots of weight. They also helped lots of folks, including me break down in the gale... I had over 200 lbs of weight on my tent and it was still pushing it around - but not picking it up. Part of this was having my sidewalls up which kept the wind out from under the canopy top, but still acted as a sail.
As Robert has said elsewhere - rubber feet on your tent legs are essential to keeping skidding to a minimum when on pavement, but this doesn't help if your pavement is getting covered with blowing sand.
The event was juried during the application process and was judged onsite, with ribbons and gift certificates being awarded to the winners. Several jewelers said there was too much jewelry (a more common lament these days - yet lots of jewelers keep applying to events and juries keep overloading the category - but that's an entirely different discussion).
Sales were slow to start happening. Part of this was due to the weather changeover from marginal to beautiful and part of this was waiting for church services and Mother's Day brunches to be completed. I saw lots of packages being carried about; including lots of stuff with frames. Despite the slow start, rain date, and slightly early close, my sales were as good as the year before - which isn't outstanding, but I covered costs and made a profit.... I had multiple repeat business customers who had seen me at other events and had an events planner make an inquiry about wholesale... (Yay!) There's nothing like having people stand at your booth and praise your products to other potential buyers... You can't buy this sort of advertising for a consumable craft item - especially if you aren't kettle corn, corn-dogs, or sugared nuts
Show management (made up of local business people - The Dewey Beach Business Partnership) was competent, helpful and were looking out for the artists and artisans. They get good marks for keeping everyone well informed about the weather-related cancellation and showed good judgement in calling the event because of weather.
Do the show again? Yup. Howard Alan quality event - nope. Easy set-up and windy teardown. Well attended for a second-annual in a pre-season beach town. Well publicized in the area, but not in Wilmington, DE or Philadelphia to my knowledge. Wouldn't do this one yet with high-end high-priced items - I think there's a limited market for this at this event still.... However, I may bring my art and my craft next year to this event... This event has potential if management keeps working on it as they have for the first two events...
What could they fix? Hmm... They could work on the maintenance of the venue - by having better provisions for puddle problems for the next time... but they did ok considering the situation they were handed
Comments
Yes, this is the same thing that happened to me when I went looking for a list of exhibitors... All I found was the exhibition poster and a couple applications for the event.
Hopefully Kelly has recovered from the weekend and is out there in the audience.. Kelly, could you post a list of the exhibitors and contact information/website data so that your local residents and attendees might be able to find us now that the show is over and they decided they might want that last item they promised to 'be back' on?
Despite their voluntary capacities, the DBBP did a great job for a 2nd Annual event. Hats off!
Now I am wondering where they will expand to if the show doubles in size next year and how they will manage those growing pains which come with a show that gets popular suddenly.. It's a great venue for a pre-beach-town-summer-season event
Kelly did a great job with the show. I would concur with the suggestion that some kind of puddle management be implemented as flooding in these areas is common. Also, when searching the show online for info to include in my newsletter, the first thing that popped up was the exhibitor information. The only images or information that I could find on the web were from the 2012 show. When my nephew searched it, same thing. I couldn't find anything on the2013 on the DBP website or elsewhere. Needless to say, web presence is very important, so this is another suggestion I would make. :0)
Appreciate your comprehensive review of The Dewey Beach Arts Fest, Mark! I was there; I offer mixed accessory and jewelry designs-highlighting my fish leather pieces; new this year. Swag Bags, Gone Native, and Off The Hook are my logos. It was my first time at this show; having been advised to participate by a friend who did well last year(but, alas, was too ill to attend this year-although Kelly kindly grandfathered her in, fee and all, for 2014).
I didn't make a sale until after 2 pm; but then it was brisk, and I turned a modest profit. The firm warnings to use tent weights(which my husband made just before the show) enabled me to hold my own(being closer to the street than the bay didn't hurt either!). The ceramics guy and fine painter flanking me were great people; and I chatted up dozens of folks intrigued with my fish leather jewelry(once they wrap their heads around this new leather, they will buy!)
Kelly R., the show's co-ordinator, had to be coerced to postpone; but handled the new schedule with panache. In fact, she highly recommended artfairinsiders.com; for which I am grateful! I definitely will do this show in 2014, if selected. Delaware folks, I find, are very savvy and appreciative about the handmade-and they have a bean or two to spend on what they like!
Next outdoor show to "weather" is The Bethany Beach Seaside Craft Show on June 1!
Given the level of devastation on Long Island and the Jersey coast, have to think that any beach show in a town not badly affected by Sandy would be an important show. Isn't Paragon still trying to give away booth space to those who can jury for some of their Jersey shows?
And not surprisingly, another show which doesn't get attention is the St Peters show in Lewes, DE over the July 4th weekend. It is only currently juried for Photography and Jewelry, but is very well-attended and booth spaces are really reasonable.
By "off the radar" I simply meant "not extensively advertised and therefore unknown to the vast majority of AFI visitors." I'm not impugning the show's quality or questioning why you or anyone else would do it.
Hi Jeff,
Deadline was in April, though I applied months ago. Here's the poster......
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I guess for me, it wasn't off the radar, since I still don't regularly jury into shows with top shelf cachet... Sometimes we forget how far we have come to think that a juried show with less than 100 exhibitors is off-the-radar. As an artist who has not yet been able to make the game pay the bills yet with regular entree' into top quality shows, I am constantly on the lookout for new opportunities.
That's why I started my craft business, River Road Candleworks. I make quality scented soy candles with an attractive low price."The Premium Soy Candle in the Plain Package" pays for supplies, entry & jury fees, booth fees, etc etc...
Some artists, like Abraxus, Kevin Fleming or Andrew Wyeth have storybook success... while others have to scratch and claw for every show and sale... I know you weren't implying this when you made your comment, but I suppose someone might think that.
Surprisingly, Steve Billups was exhibiting his fine art photography. His work, though very talented and creative, might be considered highly controversial at many top-notch shows.. I was looking for an exhibitor list... but couldn't find one.
I'll see about editing the thread tags - thanks for the tip.
I saw a flier for this show posted in the terminal at the Lewes-Cape May Ferry, for what that's worth. Might have thought about doing the show were it not for the forecast. Thanks for reviewing this "off-the-radar" show. It's a real benefit to AFI members when ALL shows get reviewed, regardless of their longevity or cachet.
ps: If you get a chance, edit your tags and enclose compound words (i.e., "Arts and Crafts") in quotation marks so they're kept together. It will help folks find your review next year.