We hear a good deal about the national shows and I have written a few reviews this year, but there are a good many smaller local shows in our communities that have long successful histories. I would like to focus on a few from the Cleveland area. These are the mom-and-pop shows that have dedicated volunteers, who want nothing more than to bring good art to their communities. They have volunteered their time year after year for decades. I think of Jo-Ann Rettig-Rau, the chair of Medina's Arts in the Park. Jo-Ann, who at nearly 70 years young, has been chairing the Medina show for decades. Or Karen Cooper, chair of the Lakewood Arts Festival will step down from Chair this year after 20 years of service to her community. These local art festival organizers and hundreds like them are the unsung heroes in our business.
For the last four years I have spent the middle of July to August in the Cleveland, OH area, participating in a series of local shows. Some are one day shows that are scheduled back to back: Willoughbv ArtFest on Saturday and Medina Art in the Park on Sunday; Lakewood Art Fesitval on Saturday and Chardon Art Festival on Sunday while others like the Akron Art Expo are weekend affairs. To the artists who travel on this caravan, it's a marathon.
The Cleveland Shows are not usually high grossing shows for me, but with little expenses, it's all about the net and these shows are solid. At the Lakewood Show last year I grossed 3K... a 1 day event, not bad! I even saw a big smile on Nels face after he finished the Lakewood show last year. Usually the gross is in the 2K range for the one day shows and less for Akron. That said, several of the Cleveland Shows were down for me this year by 30-50%, the exceptions being Boston Mills and Chagrin Falls... these were up (reviews written earlier). Of course someone always does well at every show. I spoke to a photographer this year after the Medina show and she was very happy... grossing nearly 5K in one day. Booth fees at these shows are modest, $100 to $200 and jury fees are $10 to $25 so it is easy to recoup expenses.
What is consistently remarkable about these shows is how well supported they are by their communities. Pictured above is the Medina show this year. It is packed with patrons for most of the day and the same is true for Lakewood and Willoughby. (Akron is probably the weakest link in the series.) These are local folks, some are wealthy, but most are from the struggling middle class. They have to think hard about any purchase. I can not help but feel honored when they select any of my works.
Quality of the art? Well it's all over the place, something for everyone from amazing art to not-so-amazing. You kind of go into these shows knowing this. When you do a series of local shows with the same artist, you can't help but build friendships with many. They too do national shows and travel quite a bit, but elect to do some art shows in their community to support the local efforts there. I have been fortunate to develop such good friendships with some these amazing artists.
Well it's back on the road again in a few weeks. I hope to be seeing some of you. Cheers!
P.S. Linnea Lahlum (a.k.a. workaholic or is that chocoholic) sorry I didn't get a chance to stop by your booth at Lakewood.
Comments
But I have to agree with Leo, they need to drop the admission fee. $2 last year, $5 this year! I was near one of the gates, and hearing patrons grumble about the admission fee when they come in does not promote an inital happy buying atmosphere. Also, I thought the crowd seemed thinner this year.
As a past patron of Cain Park, I can remeber when the paths were crowded and you had a hard time getting in and out of booths. This is no longer the case, and I wonder if the admission fee had something to do with it.
From my end of the show I saw several bags and packages walking away and most artists in my immediate neighborhood reported good sales. I overheard many patrons stating that they were back after having attended the previous day because they had spotted a piece of work that they wanted to purchase.
Honey and George, the two primary organizers of the event have been running the Cain Park Art Festival for a very long time and have it down to a science. Load in is timed and with good reason. There is really single vehicle access along the art show's main avenue. Generally, despite the rather snug surroundings at set up and tear down, things run like clockwork. Artists are extraordinarily well taken care of. There is an army of volunteers who are ready and willing to do anything from boothsit for breaks to run and purchase your lunch on your behalf. All volunteers I spoke with were friendly, helpful and a real testament to the show and its organizers.
The festival is very well publicized in local media and is known throughout Greater Cleveland as a high end show.
Can't think what happened to Cain Park. We must have done it for 25 years and preferred it to Madison and the other guys. Maybe its because Harvey and Audrey are having too much fun together in that art fair in the sky.
Larry:
To your point about removing comments from Blogs, I would regret if that happened. I very much appreciate receiving comments on the blogs I write, particularly if they are related to the topic. I like that several perspectives can be added to one blog post and I encourage the discussion. It will make work easier for folks in the future looking for information about a particular show. I think it is not so helpful to have ten separate blog post on the same show. It also clutters the blog area and since blog post don't bounce to the top once a comment is made, blog post get buried too quickly.
Connie
About Cain Park: I did the show three years ago. George and Honey do a great job organizing and they were the first show promoters I met who took time at the start of the show to greet each and every artist. I also appreciated their voices chiming out on the PA system encouraging buyers to buy (Sunday award breakfast was also outstanding). Unfortunately, that is where it stops. The buyers were not there and I squeezed by, barely making expenses (and this is a local show for me). The art was fantastic, but something has truly gone wrong with this show... I believe they should remove the admission charge and offer an incentive for buyers to come. Maybe the show is too close in schedule to Boston Mills. In the years since doing the show I have check with artists participating and it is never good. Add to it that the show is on the busiest weekend of the summer season (Krasl, State College, Madison, etc.) and it is a no-brainer for artists to choose another venue. This year I did Krasl.
About Site Organization: I'm glad you're starting a discussion on this topic. I will join it an add my 2cents.
Cheers,
Leo
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