Has anyone participated in the art show Labor Day weekend in Mystic CT? If so, please share your experience. Thanks!
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Has anyone participated in the art show Labor Day weekend in Mystic CT? If so, please share your experience. Thanks!
You need to be a member of Art Fair Insiders to add comments!
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I've had very good times at the Meet the Artists show at Olde Mystick Village shopping center. This is a very small show, maybe 50 artists, at the edge of what's probably the busiest shopping area in CT, on probably the biggest weekend of the summer.
The upsides
It's a three-day show, with set-up on Friday, and set-up is easy, with most folks able to pull right up to their spaces.
The show is well-known in the area, and the tents are visible from I-95, so you often get people who went somewhere on Friday or Saturday and stopped on their way back on Sunday or Monday.
People in the area, and visitors to the area, have money. I've always had good, if not great, sales at the Meet the Artists shows, usually in the $1,500 to $2,000 range. And I really like Denise, who runs MTAA. She has the soul of an artist - flamboyant, emotional, colorful, generous.
The downsides
After you set up, you have to park at the other end of the Olde Mystick Village lot. It is a hike. Well, I am lazy, but after a day at the show, it feels like you're walking to Rhode Island to get your car.
Bathrooms are also a hike, and there really is no booth-sitting or other artist amenities.
Because of electrical systems and sprinklers, you can't drive stakes into the ground. It is often very windy there, so just beware, and bring lots of weights.
A couple weeks before the MTAA show, there's the Mystic Outdoor Art Festival. I'd say that show is also worth it. I've participated for four years now, and have had regularly solid shows, selling more than $2,000 over the course of the weekend.
I do know that other artists have not done as well, and I think that placement is part of it. Also, I am a native of the area, so I see a lot of friends there. They don't buy from me, usually, but there's often sort of a nice excitement in my tent, which helps, I think.
The upsides: Mystic draws lots of people, lots and lots of people, and that's good. The show has been going on for decades, and people often make it the highlight of their weekend, and come prepared to buy.
The quality of the art in the show is very good, too. But be aware that there are odd pockets of non-show art and craft, on private spaces throughout the town, adjacent to show spots, which can drag down the quality of certain stretches of the show.
The downsides: Set-up for the weekend show is Saturday morning, which I always find exhausting. It is usually always hot as blazes. I've been at the show during a deluge, and while others left, I stayed, and had my best single day of sales ever.
Also, parking is a nightmare. Absolute nightmare.
The show's sponsors, the Mystic Chamber of Commerce, are kind and friendly people, but it's tough to get help booth-sitting, at least at my end of the street. Delivering your work for judging can be a daunting task if you're alone. Bathrooms are pretty far for most folks.
Great review Carrie. Thank You. I also participate in the Chamber Mystic show and do ok there so I may consider this one.
You're welcome! See you there, perhaps.
Isn't the Mystic show around the second weekend of August?
Larry Berman
Yes, there is that one, but also the one Im refering to is "Meet the Artist."
Yes, I've done that show. However, I wouldn't do it again for one reason only: it's one of those places that is full of shops and restaurants where the draw is to spend money on everything other than art. It is Olde Mystic Village, not downtown Mystic. (Where I will be showing this year.) That being said, it's a nice little show and is run very well. Just not many sales.
anyone?