This was my first year at this show. It is an art festival with music as a large component. Many people were there for the music as well as looking at the art.
The show runs from 10-7 on Saturday and 10-5 on Sunday. Setup is on Saturday. If you had an even number booth you could set up starting at 6:30 am. Odds could set up after 8:15 am. More shade can be found around the square, but I was located the furthest from the square in full sun. They feed you breakfast and lunch if you got there before they ran out. They also had water and sodas. Good boothsitters. Run very well.
The artwork quality present was varied. Some non-white tents were present as well as some artwork hanging from the tents rather than from professional-looking displays. Many of the higher end artists did not have good sales, especially if they had no small stuff.
Saturday brought a record high of 95. People are were buying some the first hour or two, then things went dead for most of the rest of the day until it started cooling off again. Even the dogs were dropping. They did not want to leave the shade. The people were doing the heat shuffle with blank faces and empty hand except for beer or melting snow cones. With same day setup and heat, most artists were beat by the end of the day with no or little sales. I had just made booth at the end of the day. Most of the people were tire kicking on Saturday and melting in the heat.
Sunday brought somewhat cooler weather, especially when the clouds blocked the sun, and promise of rain at some point during the day. The crowds started off slow, but gained momentum. Bags started to be carried and several be bakes from the previous day actually came back and purchased from me. I was afraid to leave the booth and miss a sale. I finally reached the 2K mark. I guess I will have to raise the bar now. As as always, when I finally have a great show after having several poor shows, several things demand attention like much needed vehicle repairs. The rain held off until tear down, when the skies opened up with pouring rain and lightning for about 30 minutes or so.
Most did not have great sales and many had very poor sales. Knowing this I know that next year I may not repeat my same sales figures. I was lucky this year. The show is worth trying. It would be a better show if the artwork was juried better and/or had a lower booth fee. I would do it again.
Comments
Dollar wise we did pretty good, and one of our neighbors did quite well, but I doubt that we will return. We had some vandalism done to our booth on Saturday night. Two pieces were broken, but we consider ourselves lucky because it could have been so much worse. The police apparently caught the culprits in action and arrested them, but I'm not sure they'll press charges.
I'm a little insulted because after our initial conversation with the organizers on Sunday morning, no one even bothered to come back by to check on us and see how bad the damage was.
The last time we were at this show, someone else's tent was vandalized so we'll probably take what happened as a warning and give this show a pass next year.