You have the option of setting up Wednesday, Thursday, or early Friday for the three day show, which begins Friday at noon. Wednesday is far easier and one avoids the crowds, so for us the extra night at the motel was worth it.
One of our favorite places to eat is "Six Feet Under" located right across the street from a great cemetery where you can have a nice stroll while reading interesting tombstones.
We did have a small problem once we were all set up. After hours of hard work we were approached by the assistant director for the show who apologetically informed us we would have to move because the small distance in front of our tent was a safety problem and would possibly create a trip and fall hazard. Fortunately they provided several helpers and the job was done in two hours. As it turned out this was a show-saver for us. The spots near our original space had poor sales.
When we showed up on the first morning of the show, however, we found a huge diesel generator five feet behind our booth. As it turned out, it was fairly quiet and we could hardly smell the biodiesel exhaust. We had virtually no complaints from people visiting our tent.
We had a stray kitten (a resident of the park) adopt our booth for a shelter. It greeted us warmly when we opened up and a helpful staff member fell in love with the critter and brought us a sack of cat food which kept him close during the show. He was starving and very thirsty, so life in the park had probably been a bit on the rough side. Unfortunately, many of the artists were sharing in his experience during the weekend.
He got so much attention that we're quite certain he boosted our sales by at least a thousand bucks (we have lots of cat pictures). There were at least eight people who kept returning to our booth to visit our furball friend in hopes of adopting him when the show closed. Our neighbor, however, had first dibs and took him home to Washington State in their new cat carrier.
Traffic was light, as expected, on Friday. Few people were bowled over by their sales. A photographer not far from us did zero on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday the traffic in our area was so heavy that the crowd went into zombie mode. Many artists along our street complained that the crowd just flowed by without entering their booths. We were fortunate to have the first corner and we did get good booth traffic. We did notice that most artists in our section chose to zip up as soon as the 7 PM closing option was available, although the show was open until 9.
We were happy with our sales, which were better than last year, although not as good as our first year at this show.
Teardown was OK if you were one of the first people ready to go. Shortly after the show closed, however, the traffic got a bit thick. It took Ann an hour to get our van to our booth. Even then we had to wait for couple of artists to finish loading their vehicles before we could get close enough to our booth for packing. We did not get out of the park until about ten and since the restaurants were closed we went back to the room and shared split the last half of a seafood Subway.
In another area the street was so narrow that two fifth wheelers, which were the first vehicles allowed in, blocked traffic while their owners leisurely loaded them up. Although it was seriously against the rules, several vehicles went up on the grass to get around them. The Piedmont Park officials are very protective of their turf and if they saw this happening the show may be permanently moved to the Lenox Square Mall location where it was located two years ago due to concerns about the effect the show may have had on the grass.
If you entered the South entrance at Piedmont you had to get past "Hate Boy" on the right and "Hell Boy" on the left. These guys were street preachers who made themselves hard to ignore.
Although some people did well, many artists were disappointed with the sales, especially considering the huge crowds.
As with many other shows, this one should come back nicely when the economy returns. We will do this show any time they let us in and we look forward to the times when sales will be back to what they were four years ago.
If you were an allergy sufferer, you might have had reason to notice that the pollen level in Atlanta made the national news and set records. Normally the pollen count is about 150; last weekend it was 5000, or so we heard. Rumors to the effect that aircraft were diverted around Atlanta due to the pollen hazard could not be confirmed.
Comments
Thanks for the comments and congratulations on getting into Madison. Today we got a note telling me I was confirmed for the show and the rejection was evidently a mistake. See you there, if not sooner
There were lots of local news reports warning people about the traffic predicted for downtown, with 4 events going including "Freaknik", a fraternity gathering that seemed not to materialize as the news men predicted.
Load out and in was a pain, and the show organizers were hard to find. We had a similar diesel generator that did in fact stink. Luckily they were able to move it to higher ground.
It was certainly a sneeze fest!
It is great not to hear any more about the "dogs" at the Dogwood. Has the frisbee championship been completely banned from the event?
Because of the tricky parking situation we would get our van parked nearby, stay at the Sheraton which was maybe a couple of blocks and walk back and forth to the show. This also had the advantage of being in the heart of some great spots to eat.
Re the pollen - our last trip to Dogwood -- probably at least five or six years ago -- between the frisbee dogs and the yellow coating over everything (can't imagine how the fiber artists handled this) the pollen really did us in. Norm says we still have pollen in the window wells of the van.
Finding the best tequila bars was not part of our travels, but visiting botanical gardens was. Getting into Atlanta early to secure a good parking spot enabled us to spend a beautiful spring day in the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, adjacent to Piedmont Park.