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this past weekend was my first experience at the allentown arts festival and allen west festival. i exhibited at the smaller side show (pun intenteded) called allen west.

the larger show was unreal...tents lined the main street for blocks, with one round the block section. i would be curious about sales on the 'round the block' section and at either end of this long long long line of artists.

as for our little sister show, i would think that the folks who do the 'main' show are probably not all that happy with us.  allen west is a much lower class show..sorry, but true....kind of got worse as it went on...but..it may just be what the customers are looking for, i'm not so sure.

i am curious how you all did at the main show..i know there were a few afi folks there. i did walk...well run it early in the morning and it truely looked fabulous.  our show was more of a street fair.  the customers (in our section anyway) were much more of a 'street' crowd.  you can check out my customer review by reading my blog post 'hats and tats'..that will give you a clue. www.juNxtaposition.blogspot.com

anyway....the show was much of a pay your money, get your spot, show up, put up your tent and sell...not much supervision or conversation from the organizers.

there is no pre-set up and tents must be taken down each day...quite a pain...

the crowd was HUGE...actually the largest i have ever seen..and i've been to my share of shows...and i wondered how they would get them off the streets...found out...at exactly 6 pm..the police came around and 'demanded' that we 'close up shop' and get off the street...strange...but i suppose it worked.

i have with me the best 'parker' around and we had a spot within walking distance so we just dollied over to my truck. it was quite easy actually.  i have a very simple set up when necessary, but i can imagine it was quite a hassle for some. 

each day went well, sunday far more crowded if that's possible..the rain pretty much stayed away although i was over prepared after hearing of so much damage of late.

hotels were slim pickins and were restaraunts in my opinion, we stayed at a super 8 which turned out to have a train track within 10 feet of my room...haha...and babies and even dogs kept me up each night...not happy..., took a side trip to Niagra Falls one nite which was nice...

for me..the show financially was fantastic, other than the country living shows (which are in a league of their own) this is the second best show i've ever done...by far....

i am now curious about the 'main' festival and would love some input here from you guys who were there...i would think it was more expensive (ours was 150-200 depending on street), i understand you didnt have to break down each night....and i would have thought the jurying would be much much tougher although i saw some exhibits that surprised me in quality??? curious what those artists feel about the sister show...be blunt, i wont take it personally....and any hotel recomendations for the area.