Foxfire Park Fall Fine Arts Festival
Downtown Nashville, Indiana
"The Art Colony of the Midwest"
October 19th, 20th, and 21st
&
October 26th, 27th, and 28th
This first time show looked like a good bet to fill in a big hole between St. James and a show in Lexington, KY. Booth fee was low, $120 for one weekend or $200 for both. The time is at the peak leaf viewing for Brown County, Indiana, and hordes of visitors converge on the small town during those two weekends. Seemed like a good idea. The show was scheduled to have about 70 artists each weekend.
The show ran Friday through Sunday for two weekends, and the artists had the choice for either one or both. I figured going for both was a good investment, particularly if the turn out was good.
Set up was on Thursday, and rain was threatening for the evening so the promoter sent out emails Thursday morning that we could show up at 10:00AM instead of 6:00. That was a good idea as there are only a couple of hours daylight left at that time. Half of the artists were set up when I arrived around 4:00. The field was scrub grass with gravel poured to level out spots. Later on they put down straw in the booths and the aisles. I was feeling ill and wasn’t moving fast. After the sun went down there was no field lighting, so I plugged in my inverter and used a 100 watt light to keep working. I finished putting up the tent and offloaded all my boxes by 8:00 and left.
Friday arrived looking like warmed over Hell, dark clouds, intermittent rain, and damned cold. I judged correctly and brought along the 2-burner Mr. Heater. It kept me warm and the rear of the tent was much warmer than the front. That gadget was worth its weight in gold that weekend. Didn’t sell anything at all on Friday. The first couple of hours saw very few people walking the show, and the standing joke among us was asking when they were going to open the gates. There was an admission charge, and many of the tourists passing by wouldn’t come in with the $5 admission. Eventually show management dropped the charge, but someone forgot to cover up that part of the sign. There was a micro rush mid afternoon, but the rain started again and the crowd dissipated like a puddle of water in the Sahara. The show was supposed to go until 6:00, but by 4:30 some artists were zipping up and leaving. No one around me sold anything significant and most were reporting nothing.
Saturday was equally lackluster, cold, dark, and damp. The weather dampened everyone’s spirits, especially the customers. I finally got lucky and sold a single $80 piece. The jeweler across from me still had sold nothing, likewise a painter, and a potter.
Sunday was beautiful weather with glorious sunshine and a day I would rather have been out taking photos. Regardless, most of were in high hopes we could do a resurrection shuffle and make enough money to turn a profit. It didn’t work. The visitors walked through, oohed and ahhed, said “nice work” and kept on going. Nothing sold that day for me.
At the end of the show, a photographer with some very nice landscapes sold a $10 flip-bin piece for the entire weekend, the jeweler across from me zeroed for the weekend, another jeweler didn’t make booth fee, the potter next to me came close to break even, a painter didn’t meet expenses. This was the back row of the show, and my suspicion is that it was death row. The artist behind me sold about $800, and the ones up next to the sidewalk (where people could walk in without the admission) did okay and I heard of one doing $1500.
So what was wrong with this first time show? People were used to seeing flea markets and swap meets on the grounds [edit: Flea markets and swap meets were not held on this site. That was incorrect information given to me. My apologies for the inaccuracy]. The signage was not readily noticeable, and the admission fee wasn’t covered up after they decided to drop it. The rows of booths were parallel to the street and the back three rows weren’t that obvious. Rotating the layout would have made more sense so people could there were a bunch of artists there. Another issue was that the art fair was not the destination draw; the promoters were hoping that they could tap into the crowds of tourists coming into town. It was an older crowd, not a terribly sophisticated one either, for the first couple of days, and the third day was families and kids, which meant we were the monkeys in the cage for their viewing amusement.
Most of us on the back row said we weren’t returning for the second weekend. I decided I wasn’t coming back and would just forfeit the extra $80 booth fee. It would cost $90 in gas to make the 60 mile drive from my home. I decided I had lost enough, and didn’t plan to go through the futile effort of setting up and tearing down again. I saw that I was slated for the back row again, and that sort of sealed it.
An artist friend on mine in Muncie, Indiana has a neighbor who does shows with stained glass. The neighbor dropped an email to him after visiting the show on the second wekend, and he passed it along;
“I did check out the Nashville show. They weren't charging admission and there was less than 30 booths. Not much of a variety of arts. For a juried show I was disappointed. I asked one vendor how she was doing and she said terrible. I was there in the middle of the afternoon and there were less than 10 people walking around. I saw a vendor from Florida, one from Michigan and one from IL. I bet they went in the hole and were disgusted.”
I checked the revised booth layout before the second weekend. It was down to 50 artists for the second weekend, but almost half of them bailed out. When faced with low sales, the wrong crowd, bad weather in the 40’s and low 50’s, and high lodging expenses at peak tourist season, I can’t blame any one for cutting their losses. I won’t do this one again, barring some sort of miracle like getting paid just to show up.
Comments
Robert...... Smaller shows closer to home and use and use the Escort ( in my case a Honda) for commute after setup looks like a good idea. Hyper- Miling is something I never considered but know it would be impossible for me. It really disturbes me to read of exhibitors not making expenses but Im really not sure what that means. Gross or net and is your husband or wife working full time at IBM and exhibiting just your hobby and you can afford to gamble on a show or is a show important to your living. You seem to have a business background as well as a street artisan. I respect your opinion and have a few more difficult questions ?
I calculate that if there were a coin bank on the dash you would now need to drop a quarter in the bank every mile you drive. Drive 100 miles and there would be 100 quarters or $25. I drive to the end of my street and its a quarter. It was half that only a few years ago and not a major consideration. My prices were not half a few years ago. Have your and other artisans that you know doubled your prices since 2008?
Years ago no one ever heard of a Jury fee. Now every show has one and some are approaching $50. Hotel and Motel price goughing for "special events" was unknown. Now a Super 8 , Sleep Inn or any similar basic hotel is $139 for the show week rather than the regular rate of $59. I dont like going back to camping but $600 or more for overnight stay is becomming an alligator to take home pay. Room plus gas can ammount to a full week of work in the studio depending on your hourly rate is. The Chevy dealer posted mechanic rate is $50 an hour and I believe the actual mechanic gets half or $25.. Minimum wage in Michigan is $7.40. What do you thing the average rate for a street artist or craftsman is ?
Years ago the standard measure was that the net income from a good show was ten times the booth fee. This was not too hard to do and itsprobably history. If your net was averaging below five times the booth fee it was thought that you should maybe try some other work unless what you are doing is mostly a labor of love. What is your comment here?
I just pose these questions as its a good time for me to rethink the street show part of the business .. Its possible that some where in these A.F.I pages most of this is discussed. I just dont get a chance to visit this site for very long or very often..
I'm late giving my review of the event and adding comments to the post. I am very sorry to hear so many vendors found this to be loss. I almost feel guilty in saying it was one of my best shows ever, but it was. I wasn’t in the front row but I wasn’t towards the back either. I was in B1 which was the far end of the third row of booths. Friday I had only a few sales but enough to cover my gas and food for all 3 days. By the middle of the day Saturday I had covered all my expenses, including product supplies and began making a profit. I live in Indianapolis also and made the choice to drive back and forth each day. It would have been a toss up as to whether gas or a cheap motel would have been economical but the drive wasn’t too bad.
The communication issue about start times for each day was my main issue. I ended up being late on Saturday, which was not the way I like to start anything off. Because I am the only person to man my booth I had to depend on the staff to give me time to run to the porta-potty once a day but I've learned to deal with that at shows. I have a strong bladder, lol.
I decided at the time I signed up I was only going to do the first weekend. I assumed that the first weekend would likely be the best and since it was a new venue it might not be able to support 2 full weekends. My body also couldn’t deal with a multi-day show two weekends in a row. The vendor beside me and across from me both did well also. I was a little concerned because there was a cluster of at least 6 jewelry booths in a very small area.
I've only done about 6 outdoor shows and this was just me second outdoor show that I would consider a true success. I can’t say any particular price point sold better than others. I sold my basic items, gift items and even into my second highest priced items. If I'd had more of my second highest level priced items, I think my sales would have been even better. I've been working feverishly because I have 2 more shows before the end of the year and my stock is seriously low due to Foxfire sales.
I do agree with others that I was surprised at the venue, it was not what I would have considered a part. What I was pleased about the location was easy to find and there was plenty of parking for vendors and patrons. I was aware there was no electricity so I came prepared for setting up in partial darkness. I had problems at times with getting a good signal so I could take CC payments. This could be due to my cell phone provider or the hills or both. I ended up having to do one manual CC payment but the others took quite awhile to actually go through.
I also agree the booth arrangement could be made much better. I don’t have enough experience with outdoor shows to give any suggestions though. I will be back again next year if they decide to make this an annual event but I will keep it to one weekend and that weekend being the first weekend.
I really appreciate Robert that you did a review on this event. I know you were loath to do it, but the dialogue is helpful to many and its great that information is getting shared. People new to the business can see that even seasoned artists have struggles and each show stands on its own. There are definitely no "givens" in this business and everyone has to stay on their toes.
Warren, this show has generated way more discourse than I expected. Part of it stems from aa lousy season for some of us. This has been the absokute worst year for me since I started 9n 1988. I was doing better my first year selling out of a homemade booth constructed of 2x4s and wooden lattice paneks with bagged prints hanging with bulldog clamps. I thought it was mostly me, and I've found I'm not the only one aand in some cases doing better than others. That's scary.
What a lot of this is doing is figuring out what went wrong with what seemed like a good start for a show. For several of us, this is almost a hometown show that just maybe could use some feedback that is crucial to it's survival. I was pretty negative about this show starting out, and had the attitude of screw it, I ain't goin' back. I'm changing my mind as I listen and participate in the way it's going. Normally I try to get rid of altruistic urges, but this show turned out to be a pitiful underdog mutt. Maybe the organizer will see this and make big time changes for the next time.
BTW, for a one hour drive, I'm going home. I commuted 75 miles one way and then back home daily for two years when I was on staff at Purdue University in West Lafayette. It was a 75 minute drive. A one hour drive is nothing ;-)
I was a vendor on the first weekend only. I was not in the last row but the next to last row. I also had never been to this town and was definitely shocked when I pulled up and saw the parking lot instead of a park. That was misleading to say the least. I understood it was a gamble being a first show but I bought into the hype of how this town was the place to be. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our dinner on Thursday evening at the brewery/pizza joint. We had never been to Nashville before and will return, just not sure if for this show. I am a jewelry artist and there were plenty of us. I was a little disappointed in the fact that a booth photo was required through Zapp but a booth in my isle that I do not consider to be fine art (strung gemstones) and the booth definitely did not live up to standard fair attire. Table cloths did not reach the floor, they were plastic and were not even the same color. I also understand that not everyone had to go through Zapp so they did not pay the same fee. I sold some but did not even cover my hotel and booth fee, let alone the cost of goods sold and the gas from London, KY. The artists I talked with some in my row, some in the row behind me and some closer to the street were all in the same boat and very disappointed. I am hoping that the weather was the majority of the problem but layout, admission fee (?), etc also played a big part. I would like to close on a positive note, we really enjoyed everyone that stopped by our booth and the staff was very helpful.
I think in retrospect, that the low cost issue hits it on the head for the crowd. My standard price work is $80 and goes up from there, and my flip bin prices are $35 and $50. I have some humor pieces that are letter size in an attractive but very inexpensive plastic frame for $20. I didn't put those out as I read the crowd to be very conservative. If I were to do this show again, and it's mighty iffy at this point, I would take a gamble on hanging those size pieces and maybe some a little larger at a low price point. They wouldn't be archival but at that price I don't think it's expected, particularly touching the glass. The prints are archival, same as all my work, just not conservation framed.
Your sales also bear out the proximity to the street, as it looked to be a downhill slide the further someone was from the street. We can only wonder how things would have been had we all been on the street and a little closer to the center of town.
Slightly divergent, but it points out how important placement is, is an incident at a little show in Muncie , Indiana somewhere about 1993. The show had a fair number of artists under a large tent, probably 2/3 of all of us. The rest of us were in a cluster off to one side, and not in a direct line to the tent from the parking area. We saw groups of people continually bypass us and never return to see us. The organizers wouldn't let us move. I finally strongly suggested they quickly put up some stakes and make a roped walkway that led from the parking lot to us and then to the tent. Seemed like a good idea. Then people started going through the ropes and still bypassing us. About 3:00 most of the isolated group started tearing down and pulling out. Maybe 3 or 4 of us out of 25 or so were left when we showed up on Sunday. Two of those said to hell with it and started tearing down immediately, although the organizers said we could finally move. The rest of us decided to go ahead and leave also. The crowds couldn't be bothered to walk 50-70 feet out of their way to see what was over there. If a back row of tents at any show is slightly hidden, no one is going to go there. The front rows need to be shorter, and each back row needs to extend over further to keep a sight line going.
Road mpg is 14-15, traffic is a killer and it plummets. I've got a Ford E350 with a V8. I'm cutting back on the long distance shows for next year and trying to stick to shows within a 4 hour drive. Since I'm in Indianapolis that'll cover Chicago shows, Columbus, Ohio, St. Louis, and so on. BTW, my van gets the same mileage at 55 as it doesat 75 which doesn't make sense. Someone I know tries hyper-miling driving at 55 and coasting whenever possible. He claims a 15-20% improvement in mileage.
I'm looking for smaller midsize shows that are less expensive and closer to home. I'd rather drop to a lower tier show with lower sales but a higher overall profit. I don't see the point in having to sell an extra half dozen pieces just to be churning money and paying for extra expenses. Stick closerto home, and anything within an hour and a half I'll drive home to sleep. Another thing, particularly with the 3 day shows, and anything within 75-90 miles, is I'll start off unloading the van for set up and afterwards commute with my Escort that has 30mpg, until teardown day.
Wow! about 10 miles per gallon by your numbers. My old van gets 15 which is a little better. I dont know what I am going to do next year as the gasoline cost can now exceed the booth fee for a show a days drive away. Selling $700 before you even get to the motel fee is depressing. Any suggestions ?
Jacki, I wondered about that one also. The parking lot is limited in areas by soggy sections, and water was standing an inch or so in one corner of my booth. At least they came around with lots of straw and I think there was anout a bale and a half in my booth alone. Since the promoter owns the lot, there is minimal expense on their part and his employees do the security. I would hope the city wouldn't charge an exorbitant fee for the use of the street, but that would disrupt traffic through the main thoroughfare. It's food for thought, and maybe those more familiar with the town can offer some advice on this.
I've had to double check my spelling and I still mess up. Connie mentioned that Nels Johnson uses Word and does spell/grammar check before posting, then does a cut a paste onto here.
BTW, I use a 4 cup coffee maker for my tea, and use 2 small bags of Constant Comment and one bag of the Herbal peach. Sometime I'll use pomengranite or raspberry. I'll make two batches and fill the thermos to the top. The thermos is a stainless steel one and kept things hot from 7 in the morning through late afternoon. A couple of the artists next to me hadn't considered drinking soup for a meal as it's more discreet than a sandwich or something messier. Probably should put that hint in the Newbie Central section, LOL.
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