Posted by Bill Sargent on October 22, 2009 at 11:52am
The night crowd was something else. We expected them to start eating each other any second
lambert's, home of the throwed rolls, serves lots of good food at a good price in a nice setting. It's just a short trip up the road from the festival. This is the second time for us in this show. The setup was not bad, although some of the vendors have a tendency to block traffic and pretend not to have a clue when they are asked to move over. Once we were parked, however, we were able to take our time unloading and setting up without being in anyone’s way. The weather was so hot and muggy on Wednesday setup (It’s a four day show) that we decided to return early the next morning before showtime to finish up. We learned afterwards that several others had done the same. When we got there the next morning the humidity was just about a hundred percent (a fogged camera lens held in front of our fan stayed fogged) and the temperature was in the mid eighties already. Then it started getting hot. Fortunately we were able to set up a shaded nook behind our booth with two fans working full speed. That combined with our handy cooler made it just about bearable. The crowds were thinner than the previous year and even the food and beer vendors were more sparsely patronized this year. This crowd goes for low priced shiny stuff but higher priced shiny stuff will occasionally sell. Our sales were about the same as last year, but our spot seemed to have more of a crowd walking by. Walking by. The show stays open until ten, five on Sunday. Most artists pack up as soon as it gets dark. Oddly enough, the crowd grows quite a bit but by then they are shuffling by the booths without looking at them. Beer and food in both hands. We struggled to reach a total of $1700 over a period of four days. An artist who had $4,000 in sales at Marietta was up to about $1500 at Gulf Shores late Sunday. They had been our neighbor at Marietta. We are ambivalent as to doing it again. It’s a long show and the teardown can be difficult. Last year we had managed to dolly out by the time the tow trucks were being called in and managed to escape unticketed from our weekend parking spot in the middle of the street that had been closed for the event. If you park in the street you are told to be gone by six Sunday evening or get towed. This gives you an hour to get your display torn down and ready to haul. In reality we were able to stay there until 7:30. THEN they started getting serious. This year we just zipped up and left for two and a half hours. We were thinking about the heat and traffic chaos. Normally we don’t like to do this, because as difficult as a teardown can be, we’d rather get it over with. This time, however, we came back to a nearly empty site and were able to get everything down, packed and loaded with a minimum of hassle. The temperature, as predicted, dropped off significantly after sunset. It was worth it. If you’re thinking about doing the show, remember that it is a beach, beer and corn dog crowd favoring work that is more casually decorative than thoughtful. Any concern for the human condition has been numbed by the suds. One of the award winners features innovative well executed paintings with dogs as the main theme. For bread and butter he paints dogs in martini glasses. He was making loud framing noises during the entire show trying to keep up with demand.
Glad to see that the Shrimp Fest hasn't changed that much. Did it many years ago, early 1990's when my son went to Auburn and I thought it would be a great way to go visit him. Can't believe I did it for two years before sanity kicked in and four days of heat and humidity took their toll. Found an inexpensive condo that rented to me for a week cheaper than it would for just the 4 days - made a mini vacation right on the beach. Crowd hasn't appeared to change.
Hi Bill. Heard about your pics from a friend of mine who recognized our booth in the Shrimp Fest shot. I guess our masks fit right in with the "live" canibals at Shrimp, and I think that the Ketuck puddle pretty much says it all about that weekend in Tuscaloosa.
I also agree great images. They speak more than a 1,000 words! In reading your weather report, it conjured images of a dreadful hot show I did this summer - thanks a lot! lol. For the reason of heat I can't do that show again. I used to not mind it at all, but then when you are "stuck" there for at least 7-8 hours and no moving air, you have to start thinking about yourself.
Nice images Bill. I can almost feel the Zombies coming out at night, chewing on a corn dog, chewing on a leg, chewing on a picture of cats on a hot tin roof. You made me feel like I was there with you,dying every minute in the humidity, but somehow, perversely loving it. You two will definitely be back there next year. Oh Marrietta. Are you holding out on us Bill. You gave great "meat."
Hmmm....I think I'm glad I missed this one too! Norm was always crazed at set up and teardown, and if he hadn't retired already I'm sure that between Gulf Shores and the muck at Kentuck we'd be done.
Comments
Love these images -- great light!