I was not planning on going to this show. Hadn't found much in the past few years and the quality was very uneven. But, a jeweler I hadn't seen in several years was going to be there and I wanted to add another of her pieces to my collection. I hopped in the car and got there as soon as the festival opened on Saturday.
The minute I reached the artist's booths, I knew this was not the same festival as in the past. The quality of work was solid throughout the festival. There is a lot of 2d and it seemed to be of good quality. (this is not my area of expertise) There was a lot of ceramics and pottery, unusual for a show. There was minimal glass. There was good quality jewelry also. There was lovely wood work. There were quite a few artists I had never seen before and that is always a great thing.
I don't know about load-in or artist amenities. The show was fairly well organized along the pathways in the park. The vendors were over by the food area and they were unobtrusive. There was what I call 'festival appropriate' music with live entertainment. EM Events runs a tight ship, if it wasn't in your jury photo, you weren't supposed to sell it in your booth. There was plenty of parking nearby for both artists and patrons. The volunteers I spoke with were helpful and enthusiastic. There were lots of signs around the area advertising the festival. Hot weather was a deterrent but what can you do about that? Atleast there were no damaging winds or rain.
The artists that I spoke with said they were doing OK. I didn't see a lot of packages but everything I bought fit into the gigantic bag that I carry and both pairs of earrings I considered on Saturday were gone on Sunday.
Thanks EM Events for bringing this show back to life.
Comments
yep... trees down and power out in many areas around here (some won't get until the weekend!). Seems like we just got power from the last storm. Very grateful it held out until Monday am... so many shows were in the area this weekend!
EM shows are smaller with Lakeview being the largest. She doesn't load up on jewelers to make the show bigger which is nice for artists and customers (never hear "oh more jewelry"). Glad I am able to do Geneva this year because last year it was at the same time as the Gift Show/Beckman's and I couldn't attend. I have learned that sometimes bigger doesn't mean better!
I still can't believe we missed that bad storm by less than 24 hours. Can you image what those strong winds would have done to all of our tents and art work?? We are so lucky the storm waited until after our shows this weekend. I was without power for a day and I know other people still do not have their power. Thank god everyone who did a show this weekend is safe and sound.
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