At one time this was considered Michigan's top outdoor artshow--those days are gone, I think, forever.
Here is a quick synopsis.
They charge a $400-plus booth fee with nearly 300 artists.
Two many artists for too few big spenders.
So, that is the Cliff-Notes Version.
For an in-depth analysis, read on.
In the glory days of Michigan shows--pre-2001- people went to Birmingham for the Shain Park show one day and then the next day they went to Rochester for Arts 'n' Apples (hereafter AA).
People bought like crazy and many artists had bigger shows at AA then they did at the Ann Arbor show.
That is now a pleasent past memory. Mind you, all the heavy hitters on the circuit were there, unless they were lucky enough to be at Saint Louis. We are talking about last weekend, in case you are not sure.
Galbo and Luciano were down on the same row dukeing it out. Photos weren't exactly flying out of either's booth.
Fact was, photos and other 2-D art weren't flying out of many booths, mine included.
Crafters seemed to do better.
Ceramicist beside me with raku sold steadily all thru the show.
Metal sculptor behind me killed them all show long (we will get to that later).
The Paint Creek Center for the Arts runs the show--it is a fund-raiser for them.
Trouble is, they are the only ones making out well. Their booth fee is way to high for the average sales return.
When you are charged $400 plus for a booth--there are certain expectations.
You should be able to turn at least $3.5 K or higher for that kind of money. Most exhibitors were lucky if they hit the mid $2.5K range.
It was mostly lowed sales. Mostly in the $50 and under range. Good luck with that.
Setup is pretty mellow. You can setup Thursday, day before show, or Friday before show opens at 4:30 going to 7:30.
Saturday show ran 9 AM to 7:30 AM. God knows why.
Sunday, show was 9 AM to 4 PM, vans got let in after 5PM.
Teardown can be hectic. Booths are all on grass with ample storage room behind. That was the one plus.
Their free food bag was a joke. You got one over-ripe banana with some fruit bar that glowed in the dark and one other tiny mysterious package. No water, no coffee. So much for the $400-plus booth fee.
Saturday was chillier than you know what, I had one five layers of clothing trying to stay warm. It also did a little pissy rain that lasted about three hours and killed sales. Overall, Saturday sucked. Why we had to be there on Friday, I have no idea. We just wasted a bunch of time. Sunday brought good weather and average crowds, not tons of buyers. It was Ann Arbor redux again. Most of them just walked on by without really caring to look. There were very few packages in anyone's hands.
My take on it, is this show is not worth the loot charged. Go to Saint Louis, go to Swampfest, go anywhere but don't go to Rochester.
About my sculptor neighbor.
He has a good gig going, except it drives all his neighbors batty.
Basically, he is selling a metal horn about 5 inches long anchored to a wooden tray that you then put your smartphone on with its new extra cover that has four tiny speakers in it and voila, you have loud music.
Trouble was, he only downloaded a John Phillip Sousa march song to be played on his demo model. After listening to Sousa's march a million times in one day, I was ready to puke, so were my neighbors.
We told him how we felt about it and he listened well. We heard no more Sousa the rest of the show.
Sorry, my blog is not more positive, but that's the way it was. I won't be back, nor a bunch of others.
I did get a great Tequila Report out of Rochester and that will come next.
Aloha. Nels.
Comments
Patricia, Feelin' for you...that sounds like it was a terrible situation. You get get my vote for Superwoman of the weekend.
Oh Patricia, how awful for you. I don't know how you managed with Shingles. To me, Shingles is like having surgery with no pain meds. And the pain meds don't really knock the pain out all that much. And then you lost your diamond. I really feel for you.
It was our first time at Art & Apples. We did $3150, but we expected more with a 2 1/2 day show. We had only one sale on Friday night -- that has never happened to us before (Jewelry). Our sales were just picking up on Saturday when the rain came and drove everyone out of the show. Sunday was an average Sunday for us. We are willing to try it again because the weather may have caused the slow sales. However, I do not understand why they stay open until 7:30 on Saturday, no one was buying that late and the sun sets at 7:45 -- 6:30 would have been plenty late and would have made it easier on the artists since it would give them time to have dinner and relax after a long day. Worse, was opening at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, there was no one there until after 11;00 a.m.
Here's how I see Arts & Apples. I think it has the potential of being a good mid-tier show, on the par with Krasl. I did well there last year and had great expectations for another good year. But the weather didn't cooperate. Friday and Saturday were cold and people did stream by like zombies. I made very few sales both days and was severely bummed out on Sunday morning. Sunday wasn't much better until about 1pm when, suddenly, people were actually coming into my booth, asking questions, and handing me their credit cards. I did around 4K by the time it was over, but 2/3 of that was in the last three hours of the show. I wonder how successful the show would have been overall if the weather was better. I'll do it again next year, and hope for good weather.
I was present at Art and Apples. In fact, my booth was RIGHT behind Nels' booth and right next to the metal worker playing the John Phillip Sousa march. I must admit, meeting Nels was the highlight of the show! Second best was when the metal worker changed his tune to demo his metal horn.
I'm not the veteran Nels is and this was my first time at Art and Apples so I had no idea what to expect. I had a goal and hopes of exceeding that goal. Based upon Nels' booth fee vs. sales, I came close to his projection. However, achieving that number was due to a few good buyer who didn't run away from my booth when they saw my prices.
I am a wearable fiber artists. I hand paint fine threads then weave scarves and sewn shawls. My sewn shawls sell for $235.00. They attracted a lot of attention. In fact, I saw people beeline to my booth. Hundreds of people inspected the item, oohed and aahed about the colors, then looked at the price tag. You would have thought the tag burned their fingers. I actually had one women look me in the eye and say "don't you think that is a little expensive?" I am still nursing the hole in my tongue from biting it.
I have close to a year to decide if I am going to apply for Art and Apples next year. Sorry I won't see you next year Nels.... IF I do go back.