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I'm relatively new to showing, and had the opportunity to do either the Chardon Square Arts Festival in Chardon, OH or the Toledo Zoo Art Fair.  After posing the question of which to choose on our discussion board, I received a couple of hearty recommendations to do the Chardon Art Festival and run from the Toledo Zoo one!

The application process for the show seemed a little old fashioned to me.  You mail in a paper application and have to send in actual photos of your work and booth shot, along with a check for the booth fee (a very reasonable $ 100!).  You know you are accepted when they cash your check, lol.  However, they did also send me a letter advising me that I had been juried in.

Anyways, I'm so thankful for the advice I received here, and I just had a terrific show in Chardon.  The show is only one day, from 10 am to 5 pm. Although set up was only allowed the morning of the show, there was close, accessible parking to the booths for loading/unloading.  The booth spaces are a very generous 10' x 12', and on grassy, level ground.  The festival is held in Chardon Square park, and my booth space was located under a lovely shade tree. They had staff come around multiple times to offer cold bottled waters and offer to booth sit.

The weather was about as perfect as you can get, and the crowd was terrific.  I had continual traffic through my tent from the very start, up until about ten minutes to close.  I asked some other artists if it was just the beautiful weather that was responsible for the huge turn out, and was told that it was like that even in poor weather! 

And the crowd was there to buy!  I saw so many people carrying bags and crafts, and I personally sold more than I have ever done in one day.  As an artist, it was very gratifying to also have many customers come up to me and ask about the inspiration behind many of my works, and ask how they could follow me and see my newest works when they were released.

If anyone is considering doing this little gem of a show, I can highly recommend it!