Hi, I am needing to make a quick decision about a show for this coming weekend. Have any of you done the Old Court Days in Madison, Indiana? I am curious and can't find much about it. It is a three day show.
I hand make jewelry that is very different and our price point is fantastic! Our average piece is $22. Any quick advice would be SOOOO appreciated!!
Thank you!
Rhonda
Replies
To Rhonda and all AFIers who might be reading this, I would definitely stay away from Old Court Days. It's not what you're thinking of as a "show."
There are three shows going on in Madison that weekend: Chautauqua is the primary show, which is set up on the streets on the blocks surrounding the historic Lanier mansion. This is the art/fine craft show that accepts quality, hand-made work. The crowds come from Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, are consistently heavy and they will buy.
The next show down the ladder is the Lanthier Winery show (I'm assuming they're still running it; haven't been there in a few years). It's a pleasant little show (60 vendors?) on the winery grounds and it's a pleasure to do. However, many of the Chautauqua patrons either don't know Lanthier is there or they don't care, because the crowds are much lighter. I did this show my first two years and then bailed out because it was just too slow.
The third event is the Old Court Days. It's inexpensive, but there's a reason. The better quality work leans very heavily toward the "country" feel or crafty crafts. Then there's a lot of buy/sell, kettle korn and hot dog booths, people setting up a table on the sidewalk, etc. I'm happy for Kathleen that she's able to do well there, but even if you frequent craft shows more than art shows, I think Old Court Days has more the feel of a flea market than a craft show. The key problem is that it's not juried, which of course means that anyone with a few bucks can get a spot. It's not the atmosphere I want to be selling my work in.
I am in total agreement with Karen's assessment of this event. We have participated in the Chautauqua, a sweet community event that is well attended, but the Court area is exactly as she described it.
Hi Rhonda, We just got home after an exhaustingly hot 3 days. The show was fairly well attended, my husband I estimate that there were 3-4000 people attending, but the venders were way down from last year. The Pilot Club raised the booth fee last year and a number of the old timers seem to have bailed. Quite a few of them were selling the flea market type goods. The Fall show is much better attended. Karen and Connie are right about the atmosphere of Old Court Days, but we have found a number of discerning buyers who return to us. This was the first show that we ever did, and is now the only non-juried show that we do. The fall show is much busyier. Lots of people come by our booth on the way to Chatauqua and back again. There were quite a few jewelry people there this weekend. I counted 5 booths in 2 blocks, but 3 of us had good shows for sure. We were talking about it. Come down sometime and walk through. Our booth is on Jefferson, not Washington. We were presidentially challenged! Where else will you be this summer?
Hi Rhonda,
I make jewelry, too and have been doing the Old Court Days twice a year for 7 or 8 years now. The show isn't juried, so there's no attempt to control buy/sell, or to limit people in different catagories of arts and crafts. There are usually a LOT of people selling jewelry, and quite a sprinkling of junky stuff in general, but the townsfolk are really supportive of this show. We developed a following of customers who return semi-annually, so it's usually at least an OK show in the spring. Fall is better because of the Chatauqua. Our booth is located on Washington Street, and in order to have the same booth space each time, we do the show twice a year. Load in and out is pretty easy for us at our location. We come in late on Friday AM's and set up before noon, but have no problem unloading nearby. Parking can be hard to find at that hour of the day. There are a bunch of booths in a nearby parking lot off of Washington Street, and I don't know how it is to set up in there. The Pilot Club people are available throughout the show, but there's no offer of booth sitters, or water. There are port-a-lets and I miss the old days when we could use flush toilets under the court house. It's not super expensive, so it's an easy show to try out. I always see plenty of jewelry bags walking around, so you'd have a pretty good chance of selling at least something. If you come, look us up, the green and black jewelry booth 1/2 way down the block from Main St. on Washington. Good luck to you! :-D
Hi Kathleen,
I really appreciate the information. Is this a well attended show? How many attendees would you estimate?
We have decided to have a weekend at home and to just kick back and relax with the kids. I hope you have a wonderful show and the weather is pleasant! Let me know how it goes!
Thanks again and have a fantastic weekend!!!
Rhonda