The review submission form seems broken, so I'm posting these here.
I exhibited at the Fritchie Art show in Westhampton Beach NY the first weekend of August. It was my first time at this festival/fair. I suspect this is a very good small festival when the weather is more bearable. Images attached so you can get an idea of my genre. I brought drawings and paintings, primarily abstract work.
Also please note that the Westhampton Beach area has TWO outdoor Art Festivals in similar locations. The other festival is a Paragon festival which includes a lot more fine crafts and occurs earlier in the season. The Paragon festival is in a less shaded location and is harder to find from the street. I checked it out two years ago and spoke to some of the artists. They said they'd made sales despite the baking heat. (It's easy to get the two events confused).
Sales were meh and the crowd wasn't great ... BUT the weekend was hotter than the inside of a lobster pot and just as humid (you always want to be on the OUTside of the lobster pot). Weather is always a variable and out of the organizers' control.
It was so hot that I and many other artists were watching our tents from the nearby gazebo. Otherwise we would have had people passing out from the heat. Given the weatyher situation, it's no surprise that the festival goers were kind of dazed and not terribly enthusiastic. Fortunately the organizers secured the nice shady park, and not the baking hot grassy lot down the road.
There was a small window of time on Sunday morning when the heat had lifted and the sun had not yet gotten to lobster boil yet. During that bit of time when the weather was bearable, I saw a decent amount of interest and sales. I suspect this is a very good small festival when the weather is more bearable.
The event was well-organized. They lost some space and adapted with fewer artists, but it was still a decent size - not puny and not overwhelmingly huge. A gelato or ice water vendor anywhere near the park would have made a killing.
The staff and volunteers were a visible presence and were helpful. They gave out free donut and hot coffee tickets to the exhibitors. There was supposed to be someone selling cold bottled water, but they never showed up. The staff were interested in identifying and fixing issues like this as people brought them up.
I'd go again and hope for better weather - I wish Westhampton was the one with good weather and not Mystic Conn. Mystic was a horror.
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