Some of my earliest summer memories are of the time I spent with my family in Rehoboth Beach, DE, so I was happy to finally have a chance to do the 39th Annual Rehoboth Art League Members' Outdoor Show. It's one that many of my Northern customers have been urging me to do for several years now.
It's a one-or two-weekend show (your choice), and although all Art League members can apply, you do have to be juried in. (It's your choice whether to exhibit at one weekend or both. If you're juried in, your choice in honored.) Even cooler, those who choose to show both weekends can leave their tents up for the entire time. Convenient! You can't ask for a prettier setting (the RAL buildings are listed in the National Historic Register, and the terrain is surprisingly hilly and tastefully landscaped).
The locals are a mix of year-round residents (mostly retirees), seasonal visitors who live in surrounding Rehoboth Beach, Lewes, and other Delaware seashore communities, and short-term visitors from Pennsylvania, DC, and Maryland. This isn't a day-tripper crowd; it's a sophisticated art show crowd that knows what they're viewing, come to buy, and are anxious to engage with the artists. Many of them come year after year to visit and purchase at this show. A well-organized shuttle runs patrons back and forth from the K-mart on busy Ocean Highway to the art show grounds, where they pay a $5 admission for the weekend.
The show quality is outstanding, and leans heavily toward 2-D artists, although a few fine jewelers and other fine craftspersons exhibited, too. Nary a buy-sell booth on the grounds, as near as I could tell.
Setup was a Friday event, for the most part, although as a concession (one supposes) to locals who like to walk their dogs before and after work without a lot of hubbub, you couldn't arrive before 8:30 a.m. and you had to be off the grounds by 4:30. You couldn't beat the artists' amenities: Free coffee, fruit and pastries each morning, a tasty lunch delivered to your booth on schedule if you ordered it, and an artist dinner each Saturday night hosted by a local homeowner. Local residents volunteered their extra parking spaces (and several large lots) for artist parking.
This isn't an inexpensive show to do, if you were selling. The RAL handles all transactions (flawlessly) and takes 25% off the top for their trouble. Each artist gets a triplicate-form sales book. When a purchase is made, the artist fills out the sales information and the buyers' name/address/email, their name and booth number, and then hands all three slips to the customer, who pays at their choice of several cashier locations, then returns with paid receipts in hand to pick up their artwork. The League delivered Week 1 commission checks to each artist on Saturday of Week 2 if you were still around; otherwise they were mailed speedily. Although I had never done a commission show before and had some trepidation going in, their system worked perfectly, and I enjoyed being freed up from having to handle sales transactions for a change.
How were sales? One of the best shows I've ever had: Fourteen large Gallery Wraps sold over two weekends, and well over $6500 in revenue. That'll pay for a couple of plane tickets to Florida, for sure. And after a bleak-to-middling string of shows since I killed 'em at Mainsail in April, it was good to see lots of packages heading out the door. Best of all, I had a great time plugging into the local art scene and getting to know the local artists. Good karma abounded: I struck up a conversation with an illustrator across the green from me, and discovered that she was living in the same house (near Reading, PA) that I'd lived in when I was a 5-year-old. (My old playroom is now her studio space.) The odds on THAT ever happening are beyond what I know how to calculate! She has promised me a house tour next month when I'm in that area again. And I enjoyed a long reunion with my old photography partner, Kathleen Buckalew, with whom I teamed up 30 years ago for a photo tour of Ireland and Wales and a number of gallery exhibits thereafter. We hadn't seen each other since 1987 when I moved to Denver!
As for this weekend: On to Seawall in Portsmouth, VA--another first-time show for me. Let's hope the run of good karma continues.
Comments
Hmmm. Don't mind paying a commission. Wholesale takes way more and if the booth fee is so low, I could take a vacation at the beach!
Congratulations on great show results Geoff!
Geoff, I'm happy for your success at Rehoboth.
Hey Geoff, Glad to hear things were up for you...
Right, Courntey, I forgot to mention the booth fee...I'll correct that, above. I have stayed in Dover before. It's a little farther, and I had the misfortune of staying next to Dover racetrack before a race day. Wanted some peace and quiet. ;-)
Geoff, I was also there, its a pleasure to do this show. Dont forget on top of the 25% commission you have to keep up membership $50 a year and pay $175 ahead of the show for two weekends, $100 for one weekend. Next time stay in Dover, its about as far as Milford and cheaper. There is also a casino in case you want to gamble the way normal people do ( as artists in the show biz we are always gambling ) . Cheers!
Leo: Thanks...I struggled with the high commish too, but figured that it beats going to a crap show and clearing $400-600 over expenses. Which is kinda how the shows have been going since April. I kept expenses down by staying about 45 mins drive up Coastal Hwy, in Milford. Wasn't cheap for a Super 8--about $82 a night--but anything in Lewes/Rehoboth costs $150 or more a night this time of year.
Jacquelyn: I'll never do Collingswood again. Although I'm wearing last year's tee shirt as we speak, that is the only useful thing I took away from that show. Please DO post a review. I'll be anxious to read it!
How do you feel about paying $1625 in show cost? Plus all other expenses. I struggle with the % model, but I gotta say, they did deliver qualified buyers.
Thanks, Dave, and always good to know about the geese! I have never been there in winter, though I'm planning exactly that trip this year to get waterfowl pix.
Please stop by at Seawall! I'm still hoping to do your show but need to hear from Stockley Gardens first (if I don't get in, I'll head home to FL early).
Great to hear about Rehoboth. I want to do a show in that area someday. A lot of my relatives live near there. Rehoboth has always been a good art town. I have friends that used to go there 20-25 years ago to shop for art.
When I travel up that way I usually stay in either Rehoboth or Lewes (off-season!). After Thanksgiving, you will wake up to the sound of thousands of Snow Geese flying overhead. They feed on the picked over farmers fields in the morning, then fly back to ponds around noon.
I will be at Seawall on Saturday, visiting not showing. Looks like you have great weather for it this weekend, which I hope equals great sales. Great bunch of people putting on the Seawall event and I wish I'd entered this year.