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Transportation for Art Fairs?

Posted by Angela R. Sasser on April 5, 2010 at 3:02pm
Hello again, all!

I've got my eye on the tents, weights, and boxes to store my items so I can start going to fairs, but now I need something to transport them all in!  I own a small hatchback car and I'm not sure yet if it's going to be able to fit everything.  It certainly isn't powerful enough to pull a trailer!

So I was wondering what do you drive to art fairs? What has proven to be the best value to you?

Do you stay at hotels or do you save money by driving an RV, large van, renting, or pulling a trailer?

Tell me how you get to fairs! I'm curious and hoping to make an investment. I'm looking at small used RV's at the moment.

Thanks again:D  I am so happy I found this community! It's exactly what I needed.

- Ang

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Replies

  • Michael Skeen June 2, 2010 at 10:30am
    Okay, So I've used my new Transit Connect at a couple of shows since I got it. I thought I'd post my impressions. In short, it's great! It drives nice, great on gas, plenty of room for everything that I need to take and more. I'm a glass artist and most of my stuff is pretty small, but I pack cases of boxes, lighting, shelving and cases of glass and there really is a lot of room in one of these. They load great because the doors are on all sides. I'm a pretty happy camper (oh, and there's plenty of room to camp in it, but I haven't tried that yet).
  • Michael Skeen May 11, 2010 at 9:28am
    Thanks Phil, your photos helped make up my mind. We should start a loaded vehicle photo gallery.

    Phil Crone said:
    Congrats, Michael! I'm sure you're going to love it - it handles really nicely at 70, fully loaded.
    Post some pics sometime.
  • Michael Skeen May 11, 2010 at 8:48am
    So I bit the bullet and laid out some capital for a Transit Connect. I'm committed to doing this so I might as well make it as easy as I can to do shows. I'll do more of them, if it's not killing me to load and unload. (Tying stuff on the top of a Toyota Corolla and cruising down the interstate at 70 was nerve wracking)..... I can take advantage of the Section 179 Depreciation and write it all off against income this year and that should help a bit. There is plenty of room to carry what I've been carrying and much much more. My Display was organized around my ability to carry things, not presenting my work to it's advantage. Now I can put together a display that feature my work, not the dimensions of my vehicle. We'll see how it all works out.
  • Connie Mettler May 9, 2010 at 11:08am
    Angela, I believe this is early in your art fair career. Right? I like the idea above of renting a van until you know how things go. But if in the long run you are thinking about doing a bunch of shows there is nothing that beats having a vehicle that is dedicated to the business. The advantage is not having to load and unload before and after every show, which can be a real drag!

    We are a Ford family -- have been driving Ford vans to art fairs since 1980. They ride beautifully, are built well and there is always a Ford dealership around the corner in case you need service. I saw a Ford Transit at a show recently...all the artists were clustered around it admiring its capacity and size.
  • Connie Mettler May 9, 2010 at 10:59am
    This makes me laugh -- I thought my fastidious husband was the only one who took photos of the interior of our van as it was fully loaded, half-loaded, etc.! And now as I read further I see Phil Crone and Amy Flynn are taking photos of their load also.

    Jan Raven said:
    Everything I need for my shows fits into the back of my Ford Ranger (smallish pickup) with a topper. Instead of a trailer, you might want to consider a roof rack and cargo box. If I am making an extended circuit of shows, I will put a Yakima Rocket Box on top, just so I don't have to pack super-efficiently every time I pack up.
    I highly recommend practicing packing your car well before your first show! My first year I rearranged how I pack things about 10 times before I found a configuration that worked. Then I took photos so I wouldn't forget over the long winter!
  • Pauline Ross May 9, 2010 at 10:46am
    Rent a van. I have a minivan that hauls all my stuff. My friend has a small 4 cylinder hatchback but she put on a trailer hitch and rents small uhauls. Her car and uhaul are loaded. When we have traveled to shows, we have stayed in hotels or had friends to bunk us for the weekend. I even have a customer inviting me to stay with her when I do a show up by her. So there are different opportunities out there. RV would be nice but where would I put all the artshow stuff? Uhaul? lol
  • Michael Skeen May 6, 2010 at 9:54am
    Angela,

    I'm deep into looking at one of these. There are 2 different models the "Wagon" which has a second set of seats and the "Cargo" which is just 2 seats in the front and the rest is just wide open spaces. You can buy pre-made cabinets/cages/stuff by after market suppliers designed to perfectly fit one of these as well. It has pre-cut holes for a roof rack. This really is a versatile little car.
  • Angela R. Sasser May 6, 2010 at 9:43am
    My but that is a pretty little thing! The Ford Dealer where I live finally got a few in so I'm going to have to check them out. Are there actually seats that collapse down in the back on ALL models or just certain ones, I wonder?

    We're also looking at a Caravan and pondering on other minivan models, though the Transit seems the most affordable thus far!
  • Art on the Lawn: Barbara Berney May 6, 2010 at 9:36am
    Aha! I've seen one of those Transit Connects running around town and wondered what it was. I'm intrigued, as my old Saab fits a lot of cargo with the seats down, but can't manage the propanels, besides. I'm only doing local shows right now, so making two trips is feasible. I also borrow my son's Equinox on occasion. The Transit looks narrower than others on the road, just curious as to whether that's an illusion.

    Phil Crone said:
    Here're some pics of our Ford Transit Connect loaded up for Coconut Grove for which I did a review somewhere - search coconut grove fobots and you should find it, if you're of a mind.
    That's Amy putting in a partial roll of bubble wrap. Our display units (we refer to them as the "pianos")run front to front down the length of the van to just behind the seats. Our wall display, 3 sheets of tin and 3 stainless (well, not so stainless, but that's why they ride inside now) steel upright racks, all 7' long, stows above the pianos and our heads well over the front seats. The gray footlockers you see are stacked inside the display units; six of these carry most of our inventory for shows. Tent poles are in two bags and ride on the floor between the pianos and we stack misc stuff on top of that. The tent softgoods stack nicely behind the seats. I'll post some other pics too in another reply.
  • S. Michelle Babcock May 6, 2010 at 1:08am
    Wow, now that's what I call packing. I'm trying to talk my husband into getting a new used mini van, because I'm really afraid the one we have won't make it over the mountains, especially twice. I'm doing a show in Aspen and one in Breckenridge. Unfortunately they are two weeks apart so I don't see us camping that long in the mountains. So two trips. The last time we drove over the mountains our transmission was never the same.
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