June 2010: I repeated this show from last year (local show for me and a nice break from travels). This was a good solid show for me, grossed 3.5k (surprising results for a small show in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland). Weather was spotty, rain intermittently on Sat and Sun. Strong buyers came out Saturday morning and I sold in all my price points $55 - $500. Got to meet RC Fulwiler, who seemed to be having a decent show himself. This show is well managed, though with a little hiccup at the Saturday pizza dinner ... they tried to repeat the miracle of the fish and loaves only with four large pizzas and 150 artists... oops...good the free beer kept flowing. Cheers!
June 2009: Art by the Fall, Chagrin Falls: OK, here's a small peek into last weekend's Art by the Falls in Chagrin Falls, OH. I had been on the road for the last four weekends, so I decided to do a local show before heading out for the Boardwalk at Virginia Beach. Chagrin Falls is an affluent little community on the eastern side of Cleveland. Being relatively new to Northeastern Ohio, I had never visited before and I was impressed. Very picturesque little community with means. The show, Art by the Falls, has been in existence for about 26 years and it is a well oiled machine sponsored by the Valley Art Center in the community.
About 120 artists participated this year and the quality of work was generally good, though I find it capricious to see a hammer dulcimer player selling CDs at a fine art show. Unfortunately, there were far too many photographers at the show, I counted 19 -- 6 of the photographers in close proximity.
The weather was gorgeous and the community came out in strong numbers to walk the show, but not many came to buy. When all was done, I grossed 2K, though my net was OK since this was a local show with minimum expenses. I wouldn't recommend driving too far for this show, but it's OK for a local show. A few of the artists had an outstanding show. An acrylic painter directly across from me did marvelous (maybe 10k). Her work was traditional, pretty landscape of vibrant colors... and at the end of the show she was riding on cloud 9, good for her! On the other extreme, a photographer also across from me, did about $600 for the two days.
I do think the organizers did an outstanding job, bravo! The show has some nice amenities: Saturday dinner of pizza and beer, booth sitters, muffins and coffee each morning and a place to drop your trailer. Artist parking is some distance from the show and requires a shuttle service to and from.
Cheers,
Leo
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Hi Mel, I did do the show in 2011 and that was my last time (I moved to Virginia from the Cleveland area so the show is now too far to travel and much too risky financially). I see it would be about a 5 hour drive to Chagrin Fall for you, it would be risky for you unless you had reason for being in Cleveland. The reputation of the show use to be good but has declined significantly both in sales and the quality of artists participating (there are still some good artist but many have bailed). The first two years I participated sales were OK for a local show and I won an award each year which helped the bottom line; the third year, 2011, was terrible... lost money. Remember, my medium is very different from yours and you may get different results.
Thanks,
Mel