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  Karole Bowlds April 11, 2011 at 1:14pm

  Plus, usually, at least here in Maine the event coordinators are usually doing rounds, checking in with us, asking if we need anything, and being helpful. Most of the coordinators here are hands on....they are on the grounds(in their golf carts, etc.) They even at some shows, have staff and volunteers, so the singletons can have necessary breaks, get lunch etc.  Maybe it's the Mainer Mentality, we are neighborly, friendly and helpful here, IMHO. So we are a little more laid back, easy going. Plus with all the alcohol and smoking laws- we just don't have that as a factor when doing most of our shows.
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  Karole Bowlds April 11, 2011 at 12:55pm

  Well, Dealing with a violent person....hmmm...long story short, I grew up  the  oldest child AND only girl in a family of very large males, that I was expected to babysit. When Dad came home to find me tied to a chair, covered in welts from being whipped with a wet dish towel, he put me in Karate. I learned to use their size and weight against them! Needless to say, my brothers and cousins learned that just because I was tiny, and a girl, didn't mean I couldn't defend myself. Those same skills can be learned in any self defense course. As a woman alone, doing shows in some pretty backwater, unfamiliar places, I am just more hyper vigilant- especially at night. But I have never really had any issues. Most of the other people doing the shows are friendly and we all kind of watch out for each other.
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  Annette Piper April 10, 2011 at 6:52pm

  Maybe you have to seek out those art fairs in your state that are less prone to alcohol encouragement than some?   I often do well at smaller shows, so do investigate them and see if they might be suitable.
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  Linda A Shields April 10, 2011 at 6:17pm

  Karole and Annette you are lucky! But when an Art Fair has the reputation( which I was unaware of) that drinking was not only acceptable but encouraged by the patrons, what is one to do?

  Some(not the majority, by far) very large Art Shows in my area promote alcohol. We come from a state where there is quite frankly a tavern on every corner. It's the German beer drinking culture that lasts long after our forefathers settled this state after migrating here. We are still strongly ethnic. The children do not move farther than a few miles from their parents and siblings. I grew up in that kind of primary home. We were Russian- German.

  Therefore, fighting the prevailing culture is always like the fish swimming upstream!

  We are going to try next season to get into Art Fairs that are out of state. But that requires new transportation....which requires funding.

  Karole, how would you deal with a violent person?
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  Annette Piper April 10, 2011 at 5:10pm

  There was a local jazz festival that was BYO - I always did well at it, but packed up when it got dark as the people settled down with their drinks to concentrate on the music. I never had a problem with people looking more/buying less. Re: spilling drinks and soiling covers - well, no more than at any event where people were carrying around a coffee, or junior had an ice cream!
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  Karole Bowlds April 10, 2011 at 4:27pm

  Wow!

  In three plus years doing festivals, I have NEVER had this issue...probably because here in Maine, we don't have that many Festivals that include Beer/Wine, and those we do have are generally Food/BEER/WINE Festivals, and ART/CRAFTS/Fine Crafts are not on the Agenda at all. Plus we have those pesky public drinking laws...no open containers on the streets. Glad my little backward corner of the world has it though. I personally believe I have the right to remove anyone from my booth. For the time I am there, I have contract that says this is MY place of business. Therefore, if a disruptive, violent individual comes into my booth, they WILL be leaving. And if the festival committee is mandating you keep your booths open, what are they doing about the negative atmosphere, which is potentially hazardous to you, and your products? It is, I believe, their responsibility to make sure the Artists and vendors, are safe.
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  MICHAEL ALAN STIPEK March 29, 2011 at 1:16am

  Unless you run a breathalyzer test on them, how do you know if a person is too drunk to buy art?  Some people don't have to be loaded to unload their life into the ears of a now-suffering artist.  I say, if the art fits, sell it!  A friend of mine had a drunk unload his, er, dinner into one of his bins.  He grabbed the guy and made him pay for all of the damage done.  The guy did.  Is that unethical?  Nope.  Just business. And protecting your work against vandalism, destruction and defacement is what we have to do.  However, if a really sloppy drunk staggers into your booth, have a artist neighbor get security or at least have the person's friends drag him/her out.
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  Linda A Shields March 28, 2011 at 5:08pm

  I've never been vandalised. Have you?

  Security at multiple day events must have been doing their finest at the events I attend. Of course, we do NOT leave our jewelry or money on site at night.... Just everything else.

  My problem stems from the client who, after I spend 35 minutes chatting about which pair of earrings she MUST HAVE(and her/his dismal love life, ungrateful family members, what colors whould I dress her in, wait.....this is her favorite song....let's listen and sing along) LOL; the sale never closes because alcohol has entered the formula.

  Are they happy and amenable? Sure.

  But as the hour approaches, wherein I am mandated by the Festival Committee to keep my booth open, I've only had a few sales enabled by the client being "loose."

  And then I felt a small twinge of guilt. Was that an honest sale?

  Maybe that's more the question: is it ethical to take the money of these ennebriated folk? 
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  MICHAEL ALAN STIPEK March 28, 2011 at 1:09pm

  If a show regulates the alcohol intake, has a beer/wine garden or good security, most people well have a good time.  Sales?  I never been able to determine if drinking of beer and wine at a festival helps or hurts a festival.  Folks with a buzz on might buy or might come back later with a clean head and look again.  I guess we just have to keep an eye on the few who can spoil it - and our booth fabrics - for the other, more responsible drinkers.

  But if you're in an area where there are a lot of bars - that can be a real problem.  Vandalism has happened at those shows - and it's the late night drunks, not the show-going people, that cause the problems.  A show with a lot of bars in the area should have heightened security to protect our booths and artwork when we're not there.  
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  Kay Foley March 28, 2011 at 11:38am

  I think the customers at Belleville, though, are a well-behaved, interested bunch of people and really are there for the art but enjoy the wine and beer without getting drunk and sloppy.  I think that if that's the type of clientele at a show, wine and beer don't hurt sales at all.

   

  I find that I don't do very well at shows where there's a LOT of drinking.  My work has my writing on it and drunk people or partying people don't have the time or wherewithall to stand there and read my words--except maybe the funny stuff.