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So since it’s been a while since we’ve had a show posting, thought I would throw this one out there ‘cause it was just an enjoyable show for me…

Bluffton, SC is the gateway to Hilton Head Island.  Bluffton has two faces…new housing development, outlet malls and big box stores.  And then there is historic Bluffton full of charming homes, fine art and fine craft galleries and non-chain restaurants.  Historic Bluffton can be considered a transitional area…older homes mixed with restored treasures…

Now on to the Historic Bluffton Arts and Seafood Festival…It’s during prime shrimping and oyster season so the food was excellent.  It runs for two weeks with activities every day culminating in the Arts Festival on the last weekend.  I walked it last year to see if I wanted to do it and gave it the nod because the quality is pretty much spot on.  Jewelry and Fiber art is specifically excluded from this show.  Paper application.  They are trying to keep it to around 100 artists.  Setup and teardown doesn’t get any easier than this. Pull up to your booth site and get it done.  Artist parking is about half a mile away with a bus to take you back and forth.

It’s set up bowling alley style down the main drag of Calhoun Street with booths on each side of the street.  Visitors are bused in from a nearby parking lot and they came in droves.  Volunteers greeted each visitor as they got off the bus followed by a small cluster of chiropractor, newspaper and latte/smoothie/pastry booths and then the art starts.  And thank heavens for that coffee booth as the mornings had a nice chill…

Artist booths are not stacked up on top of each other.  For the most part, some space between booths and storage behind your booths on the sidewalks.  It didn’t feel like it was crowded and it didn’t feel like it was too spread out. There were about 40+ booths and then the music and food booths for a break for the visitors and then they continue on with the remainder of the booths, 40+ booths.  I think 95 artists total.  Now I can’t speak to how it was for artists down by the food or music stage.  I was in a good, middle of the pack location with open space on all sides.  For those who left their purchases for pickup on the way out, it sometimes took well over 2 hours before I saw them again as they meandered, shopped and ate their way through the festival.

Sales?  My Saturday sales were stellar for selling my glass.  It’s a good measure of sales for me when I use up a full roll of bubble wrap in one day.  I goose egged on Sunday but enjoyed the weather and talking with folks.  The multi-media artist next to me had outstanding sales both days.  I talked to some folks who did just OK and some who did well.  All I can say is that the show management did their job and got the people there.  An ad in Southern Living, the local papers, flyers placed around town.

Oh yeah…last but certainly not least…the organizers and volunteers.  Communicative, helpful, organized.  They set the tone by being easy going about the whole thing.  Someone was always there to provide a break, let you know about coffee and donuts in the morning, where to go, checking in to see how I was doing, etc.  This was just a relaxing show to do…