Has anyone else noticed that there are two outdoor festivals in Fairfax VA on the weekend of Oct. 8-9? Paragon Events is doing a two-day show in Fairfax Corner. According to the website, this event (dubbed the Fairfax Festival of the Arts), was formerly the Greater Fairfax Fine Art Festival. Paragon's spring 2011 version of this show, the website says, was a home run.
And the City of Fairfax 35th Annual Fall Festival, a one day event, happens Saturday (with Sunday rain date). According to the email I got today from art-linx, this is a pretty big festival, with up to 400 artists and 25,000 visitors.
I'm just a humble Florida guy who reverse-carpetbagged all summer in the Northeast, so whaddo I know? But isn't it a little unusual to have two concurrent outdoor festivals so close to each other in these parts?
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Hello all!
I live in Fairfax and I have attended the Fall festival (Fall for Fairfax) when my son was about 3. It really is geared as a fun, family event. While the potential for sales is there, due to the amount of people that attend, I would not consider this an event for "fine" artists...... I think the potential is greater for the Paragon show, because of the location.
Fairfax and the surrounding areas have been less plagued by the economy, so people here are still spending. However, if there is not a lot of advertising, people will only discover the event while they are shopping, dining or going to the movies. Parking in this area can be a bear, because the restaurants and stores in this area are very popular, so some people may not come to the show unless it is tied in with dining or shopping. Another potential problem is timing. This is a long weekend, schools, the government and some businesses are closed on Monday, so many people may head out of town since the weather is supposed to be nice.........for everyone's sake I hope they decide to stay local!
I hope this helps in some way...............
Sorry you missed it Geoff... I noticed it several weeks ago and mentioned it:
http://www.artfairinsiders.com/forum/topics/paragon-art-festivals-i...
Hopefully this will not have a negative impact your show.
Hi Leo,
Thank you, indeed I did miss this post. Everyone, this is one time I enjoy having my thread hijacked. :-)
Please visit Leo's post above for nice detail on the issue I (somewhat belatedly) raised!
And thanks for your concern, Leo...I am back in FL and not registered with either of these shows. I was just curious because I intend to be in the area this time next year.
It will be interesting to hear how artists at each show fared: PLEASE, folks, if you do either of these shows, do post a review! The AFI community thanks you, in advance!!
And from my past experience, it will be the Paragon festival that will suffer. From what I have heard, (from the people we know that live in the area), they haven't heard anything about 'that second show'. hmmm.....
There are a couple of shows that do this on a regular basis. I make sure that I don't do their shows anymore. I can't afford to throw my money, or my time, away like that. And, I wish that the 'second' show directors would have more consideration for us and this issue. It (best case scenario), splits the customers' time and money---and, we all know what happens with 'worse case scenario'...............
Oh, by the way-the spring show was far from 'a home run'. Same goes for the Silver Spring show. Total flop (for those on the 'other' side).
Larry Berman
and to complicate the matter is the jewish holiday yom kippur -- which may/may not impact on these festivals.