Last year I bailed out of the Long Grove, IL show when I received the booth assignment and saw the artist media listings. Just about half of the show were jewelers and photographers. Not a chance in hell of making a profit, and I heard later there were many empty booth spaces where a lot of others had the same idea.
This year an email arrives asking me to reconsider and they were extending an invitation to reapply. What was of interest is that it looks like the school PTO up there that ran the show for a good while has given up on it and a merchants association is running it now. They specifically mentioned balancing the number of artists and media.
I sent a message back to them requesting more info as to number of artists in total, what sort of distribution were they looking at, and what type of promotion were they planning to bring in larger crowds. It was a nice show at one time and I had one semi-decent show there but there were a couple that were either break even or a stinker.
Any one else get their email or know what's going on there? I'm a bit reluctant to venture back there as there are competing shows in the immediate area either that weekend or off by a weekend, and it sounds like an uphill battle.
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I think that Amy and Erin will be the only options in Chicago in a near future Geri. I only a hand full of shows that may not be run by her.
The group that is managing the show doesn't sound like it is the one actually jurying the show. When I looked at their website, they have two of Amdur's shows listed and they are partnering with her.
They are also running some other shows for Long Grove.
That show use to be very hard to get in and you always make money but little by little the show became well.... Base in what I see Only new artist will try it. I hope that show become good again but There are to many shows in Chicago land area that are better choices. I wondering if they even offer that show to Amy or Erin and skip special events.
The organizer is a company called Star Events.
I was contacted by the merchants association this week to do a call for artists. The information was very professionally done. It looks to me like you are right. They want this to work so brought in some professionals to run it, the local merchant community. A good sign.
It would sound like the PTO group had some new volunteers who weren't up to the job and everything started running downhill from there. I wondered why the show wasn't doing better the last several years. The current location is in a municipal parking lot, easy set up, power is available from lamp posts all over, it's a decent economic base on the surface despite many businesses that had folded in town, and the numbers were optimum with 90-110 artists. I suspect it all came back to poor promotion and a lack of buzz for the show. Let's hope the Star group they brought in revives the show.