I have images posted on previous reviews. Everything still looks the same. The location is in a beautiful park along a long road that cuts through the middle. Since it is held the first weekend of November the weather can be cold or it can be perfect like it was this weekend, mid 60s and sunny. The fall colors are also a beautiful back drop.
The booths are set up on one side of the street. This makes for a long show to walk. Parking is not the easiest. They do have a parking lot set aside for artist and they run golf carts back and forth. The golf carts run all day from one end of the festival and back. They will help patrons get around, bring sold art out of the show and get the artist from one end to the other. It is great that they do this, but the gas carts do get stinky and you have to look both ways when you step out of your booth onto the road. I think they had more electric carts this year because the smell wasn’t as bad. I don’t think there is anyway around having the golf carts. The show is just too long to not have them. It seemed that people walked about half the show and then turned around. The main entrances are at both ends of the show so I don’t think it matters what end you are at you will get people either way, just not all the people unless you are near the middle and the food.
Set up is on Friday from noon to 8pm. One way in and one way out. Most spots have room in the back and you can set up your chair across from your booth. I always get a corner spot, but most of us have a few feet on either side of our tents. There is enough room for people to walk through and even to hang extra pieces. There are a few booths you can’t do this, but not many. You drop off your stuff, go park your car, then go back and set up. They drop off water to you during set up and they have lots of people to help you with set up if you want the help. Load out same thing in reverse. For a park show with one way traffic and a narrow road they do a great job getting us out. They are good about making everyone follow the rules which make a huge difference. It takes me about 45 minutes to break down and I was able to have my car to my spot 5 minutes later. On the drive out they hand out water and snacks for the road. I love this because my van is so packed I can’t get to anything once I am loaded and I am always thirsty on the ride home.
There seemed to be more advertising last year. They do have some billboards that help. You do not see this show from the road and there are not really any signs. I know this isn’t the promoters fault. I am sure Atlanta won’t let them have the type of signage I would like.
On Saturday there were not many people but after noon there was a good amount and it got busy. It was never to busy but a decent amount of people. On Sunday it was similar but near the end of the day it got crazy. Everyone was ready to make their decision and take something home. Luckily I had a client of mine come for the day and wanted to play artist and helped me out. I would have lost sales for sure with out the help. The photographer near me reminded me it was the same way last year, good sales at the end on Sunday.
Like most shows some artist did well, some did badly and some killed it. The crowd is a sophisticated crowd. If you have what they want you will do great. $1k price points are not a problem. I go into the Buckhead homes all year long and the houses are grand. They have excellent art in their homes. These are the people who are interested in buying art. This is also a location that curators, wholesalers and designers come to looking for artists. I see old wholesale friends at this show consistently and I never see them at other Atlanta shows. Not just the fall show, but the spring one too. There are not many Atlanta shows I would suggest you travel to, but for me this is consistently my best show of the year. It is the last outdoor show until April for Atlanta and people are ready to buy if they have been holding off. Also a lot of buyers for Hanukah and Christmas presents. Enough on this you should be able to get my point and have an understanding about this show and if it is a fit for you.
The show is changing. They had a band stand this time. I could hear the music but just barely. I am not sure if other artist had any problems with the noise. There was a large grassy area where the stage was set up and tons of people would picnic on the grass and the kids would run around. It was close to the food. It was also across from the port a potties. I only saw one band playing and they were facing and playing to the port a potties with their back to the crowd. I am not sure if this was the Bands mess up or what but it was strange. The food at the show was the best I have seen. I never eat the food at the festivals but this one had food vendors I hadn’t seen before and it was great. There wasn’t a bratwurst or fried dough thing in sight. It was a nice change and the cost was the same for better food.
A little advice if you do this show. There are a ton of trees, it is a park. Some of the booths can get dark. My spot, which I love, is very dark in the morning but is perfect from 1-4. If you live in the area you may want to check out booth locations and make a request. This is also the weekend that the time changes. I know we are all tired but we do get an extra hour of sleep. If you can show up early do it. Both days I had early buyers. This is a popular area for runners and dog walkers. Very few artists opened early but people were wide awake and walking around and ready to buy. Big sales were made both days before the official open time.
Comments
Imagine, participating in art fairs is an art, not a science! It is so useful to have all these different opinions on an event. Sometimes it seems like the participants are at different shows.
If it started out as a fine art show and now has buy/sell and crap on a stick..does not sound like an up swing to me...I have done a show there and not the best place to show art..sorry..would be better to put all in the field.
Perhaps there was buy/sell at this show, I'm not going to question anyone on this. However, with the good reports I am hearing about the show in general it sounds like this show will be on the upswing and have more applicants next year and will be able to keep the b/s out of the show.
In an email from one of the organizers yesterday this is what he said: it was an AWESOME WEEKEND!.. it really was jammed packed and I spent no less than 4 hours just taking large pieces to peoples cars.
I like the sound of that!
Buy Sell was blatant at this show when you have a booth clearly marked (i am not going to say the name but here is a hint...) "color"_ "reptile"imports.biz if that is not clearly buy sell then I must be crazy. I did see the painter/jeweler. She was about 2 booths up from my booth. She was the one with the dog guarding her booth who barked and growled at the millions of dogs that walked by.
I had a less than average show but then again that is what I expected so not a big loss to me. The promoters are great they do take very good care of the artist and they do market very well. This is a nice place for a show in Atlanta and I feel this show has potential over the years of becoming a good show. Hopefully in the future most of the buy sell will get weeded out. The problem is if we don't point it out to the promoter then who will.
I attended a show a few weeks ago in Atlanta with a buy sell vendor in front of my booth double booth space selling $20.00 items all day long. I made copies of the website and forwarded it to the promoter. This promoter had no idea this was buy sell. Some of the buy sell stuff is hard to determine I can see how hard it would be to judge 3-4 images when you have maybe 200 applications for 100 spaces. The problem is you never know when the buy sell vendor could be a friend of the promoter. Lets hope this is not the case in Atlanta. I like the promoters for this show I think they have come a long way.
Don't know why some of my comment was lost... I was saying: Print the booth shot and have a compliance committee or something. I suspect ALL the vendors in the food area were production studios, or importers. Yes, they do affect our sales and the perception of what kind of show it is.
Really happy to hear the painters on your side of the show were happy. The 2D on my end weren't. I don't think this has anything to do with the show, it was well organized and marketed, it's the economy.
Good review Melanie. Just a few additions. The advertising was in the local papers starting a few weeks before the show, with fairly large ads over the weekend. I do agree the street signage promoting the show could be more, not everyone travels the route where the billboard(s) is/are. Think there is more than one.
They are using gas golf carts because the electric ones run out of power by midday because of the hills. During show hours they were only using one for trash removal and maybe another for emergencies. The walk from the parking lot to the end of the show is just over .5 miles, up and down hill. I was at the far end of the show from the parking lot. When they say set up is on Friday they mean it. No vehicles permitted in after set up. I usually leave my boxes in the van to have a clean looking booth. I ASSUMED I could drive in on Sunday two hours before the show. NO. You know about that assume word. So off to park, no golf carts in the parking lot. Can't lug all the boxes 1/8 mi. to top of show road, no carts at top of road so it was the .5 mi. walk to the booth to get the dolly, figured I'd flag an empty cart when it passed me. I did get a partial return ride to the parking lot with the dolly but then no ride on the way back. The walk did wonders to dispel the bit of morning chill left in the air and I feel fit. You might be able to catch a ride, don't count on it and at the end of the day, figure on walking.
Saturday morning started out slow but by noon the crowd picked up and they all seemed to be enjoying their walk in the park. Sunday was warmer and brought out more people. All the artists I spoke with had better Sunday sales. This is an absolutely beautiful park that the neighborhood enjoys using.
There was good work, mediocre work and b/s. as Melanie said. I do think the quality of work was better than the Buckhead Spring Art and Craft Festival, same location same promoter. It was not evident that anyone checked booths to see if the work matched the application, or if there was only 50% reproductions, correctly labeled etc. One woman near me had paintings and jewelry. She juried in under 2D mixed media, I guess she was confused thinking mixed media meant having more than one thing... based on her professed confusion they did not have her remove the jewelry. I did see a few large original items go by, mostly giclee, and some ceramics but the biggest seller in my area was the Mexican imported, elaborately painted flying pigs on a metal stick, $20. their chickens were selling well also. The promoter was aware of the b/s AND import status when I mentioned it to him in a courteous manner. He said they weren't in the show (really) and he couldn't make me happy as he walked away. They were most definitely between the entry gates about half way. Obviously there is some reason he lets this in and there is no discussion about it. The other problem I saw was production studios and agents. None are allowed per the prospectus. All Artists are to be present. Several booths had multiple artists showing in different categories (not married partners) yet only one was at the show. A quick check of show schedules on web sites revealed some "double booth" artists had multiple shows, up to three a weekend in one instance, every weekend for the two months posted online. Many of the artists around me barely made booth fee. That included the jewelers. I was surprised by the number of booths showing earrings and necklaces when they didn't jury in with it, I thought the jewelers got this trend banned a few years ago. The rules stipulate you may only show work in the category for which you were accepted.
Overall I think it was a good looking show, with the possibility of becoming a great show if they enforce their rules.
We select our shows based on the prospectus rules and location. If you have rules enforce them. It's time to have a plan. Perhaps print out the booth sh
Barry, you are not exaggerating, lots of stuff on sticks. They had a ton of this metal stuff near the food and band stand that were not made by the person in the booth. At least they kept that type stuff in the food court area. People that buy flying pigs are not the people that buy from me. I have never seen a flying pig on a stick in anyones yard when I go for a home visit. So we aren't competing for the same $$$.
Photographer near me had a decent show but not great. Most people I talked to had an ok show, but I know other painters that were very happy. The show was very much like last year. Painters did very well last year too.
Glad to hear that you did well, Melanie, but you're the 1st I've heard from that had a great show. Mostly I heard so-so. I barely made booth fees and none of the other photographers I talked had particularly good shows. Traffic was decent but rarely crowded and I was pretty close to the middle. As always with an AFPS show it was well organized and marketed.
I don't think I'm exaggerating that I saw at least 30-40 people walk past my booth carrying these painted metal farm animals on a stick. Don't know who was selling them or how much they cost but they were easily the most popular item at the show and definitely not "fine art".
Nice review Melanie. Wish I was close enough to check it out myself.
Jacki B
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