A review of this show has also been posted. This was the 39th year for the show which is produced by the Winter Park-Fraser Valley Chamber of Commerce and Alpine Art Affair Board. Ninety-eight booths are in a city park of lodge pole pine and a thick floor of wood chips and forest duff (easy on feet and back during the show). Only about 6 spaces are food vendors or non-profits. They have a really neat raptor exhibit with eagles, hawks and owls. Proceeds from jury and booth fees go to local arts programs for students and artists. Fees for this show are $20 Jury, $145 Booth and $60 City Tax License.Winter Park is a resort area about 1 hour from Denver. Summer activities include mountain biking, cycling, camping, fishing (President Eisenhower came out to fly fish the Fraser River frequently), and etc. People from Texas, Oklahoma and Midwest states are also summer visitors. Accommodations in Winter Park-Fraser Valley include private and USFS campgrounds in and adjacent to town, the usual resort area motels, and condo and house rentals. We always rent a condo and eat in as it less expensive than motels and eating out.Set up starts at 7:00am Friday before the show. Artists that want to avoid the usual afternoon mountain thunderstorm take advantage of the early set up time. Parking for artists is on side streets within 1/2 to 1 block from the park. The show runs from 9:00am to 5:00pm Saturday and 9:00am to 4:00pm on Sunday. The crowds are not exceptionally large but most people are buyers. This was the second year I have done the show. My medium is leather. Last year’s Saturday sales were about $2.4K and I was a little worried about Sunday as 2011 Sunday sales were only about $700. This year we did $1.4K each day and went to the bank smiling. The average sale both days was $60 mas o menos. Quality of the art work, in my opinion, is high and it is the type of work that mountain residents and visitors want to own. I saw many faces familiar from other Colorado resort area shows.Sunday afternoon there was a typical mountain thunder storm with lots of flash-bang lightning. It poured for 45 minutes to an hour and we had 7 patrons holed up in our tent. Between times of pushing gallons of water off the roof we made three sales by the light of my iPad. A few booths had water standing in them but “creeks” were constructed down the aisle to handle the runoff. Because of the wood chips, the park was not muddy after the storm passed. When the rain stopped artists opened up for business and the people kept on shopping. The local Lions Club, that holds a pancake breakfast both days of the show and provides complimentary morning coffee, brought around hot coffee for the artists after the storm. It is not unusual for temperatures to drop 30-40 degrees with mountain storms and sometimes it will snow in July. Dress in layers and use plenty of sunscreen when the sun is out.I’m home and have unpacked the truck. After I get my quarterly accounting done, I will start on special orders from this and my last show in Steamboat Springs, CO. Next show is in Golden, CO 8/18-19. It is about an hour away and it is always a high dollar show.
Just talked to a painter about winter park co, and although i did decent, she and quite a few others did rather poorly at the show. As i mentioned earlier, the show was packed on Sat. But Sun. the show looked rather deserted.with mostly lookers not buyers. Also was told in previous years the road going in and out of town was bumper to bumper, this year no bumper to bumper traffic. As far as next year, will decide next year when all my colorado no's come in
Thanks for the review Richard and glad to hear you had good sales. A few more people out in the sunshine pre-storm photo, but still a decent amount of people out afterwards!
Don't do stock shows or rodeos any more. Tried them and people were just spending money on beer and the dance. Thanks for photo tip, will try it on computer. Can't do it with iPad.
Right below where you enter the title is a row similar to the one on this comment area. The box next to link is for adding images. Just click on it.
Your reports are really interesting to me since you have a more defined audience than most artists. Did you ever show at the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show? We went practically every year when we lived in Houston.
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the statement that is made above was for the year 2013 sorry about that.
Just talked to a painter about winter park co, and although i did decent, she and quite a few others did rather poorly at the show. As i mentioned earlier, the show was packed on Sat. But Sun. the show looked rather deserted.with mostly lookers not buyers. Also was told in previous years the road going in and out of town was bumper to bumper, this year no bumper to bumper traffic. As far as next year, will decide next year when all my colorado no's come in
Thanks Richard. You always do such a good job on your reviews.
Really enjoy reading your reviews, Richard. Hope your next shows are equally good or better.
Thanks for the review Richard and glad to hear you had good sales. A few more people out in the sunshine pre-storm photo, but still a decent amount of people out afterwards!
before the storm and after the storm photos.
Right below where you enter the title is a row similar to the one on this comment area. The box next to link is for adding images. Just click on it.
Your reports are really interesting to me since you have a more defined audience than most artists. Did you ever show at the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show? We went practically every year when we lived in Houston.