Leeper Park has never been a big money-maker for me in the past, but I've always enjoyed doing this show in South Bend. The show takes place under the trees in a grassy park. It's small, with about 120 artists. It's well run by Judy Ladd, who takes a genuine personal interest in the well being of the participating artists. This year, I was especially impressed with the two jurors, Don Goldsmith and David Learn. They took the time to really look at every booth and talk to the artists. After each guy covered all the booths I saw them dashing around together, consulting and revisiting booths that they liked. I did not win any awards, but they seemed to take their job seriously.Setup at Leeper Park couldn't be easier. Most artists set up on Friday afternoon and were able to drive onto the grass right up to their booth. Booth size is generous with most spaces being 12-15 feet wide. Booths are set up in a circle so there are no dead ends ( which I hate). Check-in is also easy and mercifully uncomplicated. The check-in package consists of a name badge, booth sign with the booth number on it, four tickets for free water, and... Get this... A single sheet of paper with art fair info on it. Makes me wonder why some shows need to publish a huge encyclopedic- sized handout which few artists actually read, anyway.The St. Joe Watercolor Society provides a nice breakfast Saturday and Sunday morning... A nice touch.Judy Ladd passed my name on to the South Bend Tribune earlier in the week. One of their reporters interviewed me for a story on the art fair and they published a big spread in the paper the Friday before the show. The spread included three large, full color pictures of my digital paintings... Quite a big perk. I thought I'd do well with all this advanced press coverage, but it didn't happen.Saturday was hot and muggy which affected the size of the crowds, but I did get a surprise visit by Connie Mettler, who was checking out the show for AFI. It rained late in the day, and a forecast of severe thunderstorms prompted Judy to shut down the show an hour early. I had a disappointing $644 in sales on Saturday.It rained heavily overnight and I did find some water damage in a few of my framed pieces on anoutside wall that I should have the sense to cover more securely. It was overcast in the morning, but the sun came out later with temperatures a comfortable 80 degrees. But... The crowds just did not materialize. For me, for the first time in many years, I had a zero sales day! Quite frustrating. I think most artists were down in their sales, but some did OK, and seemed to be satisfied. I just didn't click with this audience, and it seemed to me that the attendance was down at least 50% or more from previous years. This year, the community did not appear to be supporting this show.Pack up was quick and easy. I had so much room behind my booth that I was able to leave my trailer there for both days, so, at the end of the show I just opened it up and packed it in.One addendum: if you do this show, I recommend the Waterford Inn only a mile away from the show. It's one of the best hotels I've stayed in with a great room (flat screen TV, coffee maker, refrigerator, microwave), an attached pub with reasonable prices, and a free breakfast with "real" eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit bowl, etc, etc... and all for bargain rates through Corporate Lodging.
I was there too. I only grossed $535 with $99 on Saturday and the rest on Sunday. A $297 sale was on Sunday, but he would have come back Saturday if had not been so hot. All items that sold were under $100 dollars. There just did not seem to be many people there this year. It was only busy for a couple hours on Saturday. I made over 5x as much last year.
I did see packages go by, but they seemed to be from the same artists, so some must have done really well while the rest of us tried to make expenses. I do know of one photographer that made 6K, but most of whom I spoke to made less than 1K. One artist from Florida made around $500, but made 3-4k in previous years. She only came up for 2 shows.
It is a lovely show except for abundance of earwigs (they creep me out). I do not know why sales were so far off for so many this year. There was plenty of advertising. Will try again.
The quality at FS has gone way down. Talked to an artist at LFOA about why they were doing FS and was told it was because they had a good mailing list and didn't live far. Agreed about the downfall in quality. The people who run it want to fill booths and they don't care with what, They run it like they run Old Town. 'Nuff said.
I don't think you'll find drunks at Fountain Square, as Evanston is much more conservative suburban than the Old Town area. Lots of apartments and condo rentals in the Wells Street and Gold Coast area. What I think you'll find is light traffic at FS.
John, sorry to hear that LP was so slow. many artists were saying the same about Lakefont this past weekend, and the weather was close to perfect u der the big tents. It may be election year blues.
It was tough all over. One of the prize winners didn't make booth fee either, and the prize money finally kicked them over. At least I didn't skunk like the guy on the other side of me. Makes me think for the Evanston show, I might be better off making some sarcastic bumper stickers. I can see it now; "Alfred E. Neumann for president; What, me worry? You're damn right I'm worried!" I figure if I can be even handed and make some snarky stickers on each candidate, I can sell those to the drunks at Evanston.
Looks like I'm not the only one who had a less than stellar show, Robert. Sorry to hear the bad news about your sales. Of course, you never know when a show will click and people will start buying. I can't figure it out. Seems so random.
I bombed pretty badly at the show, which seems to be a trend for me this year. The crowds peaked early on Saturday then just seemed to drop out as the early afternoon hit as news of approaching rain spread. Sunday just seemed to be talkers and lookers, and few buyers. The guy next to me on one side did okay, but several others around me were in the same boat, with one painter getting skunked with no sales at all. I didn't make booth fee, although it came close at $180. What was interesting, in a bizarre way, was that none of my usual framed work sold. The only thing that sold were small black and white humor pieces that were $20 each, and were work that I did in 1991! I almost didn't put those up, and didn't get them out until about 12:30 or so. Maybe the economy is so bad people need a good laugh.
I liked the show, the way it was organized and ran, and will try it one more time to make sure this one is just a fluke. Right now I'm ready to flip a coin on Evanston Fountain Square to decide whether to bail and lose the jury fee as compared to probably losing more by showing up. After reading about Wells Street this year and being present at the Lincoln Park fiasco-fubar, I see a trend with that organizer and it ain't pretty. I may be hard pressed to make back gas, food, and lodging to do that show.
Comments
Thanks for your report John. I hope you have a good summer this year to make up for your winter.
I was there too. I only grossed $535 with $99 on Saturday and the rest on Sunday. A $297 sale was on Sunday, but he would have come back Saturday if had not been so hot. All items that sold were under $100 dollars. There just did not seem to be many people there this year. It was only busy for a couple hours on Saturday. I made over 5x as much last year.
I did see packages go by, but they seemed to be from the same artists, so some must have done really well while the rest of us tried to make expenses. I do know of one photographer that made 6K, but most of whom I spoke to made less than 1K. One artist from Florida made around $500, but made 3-4k in previous years. She only came up for 2 shows.
It is a lovely show except for abundance of earwigs (they creep me out). I do not know why sales were so far off for so many this year. There was plenty of advertising. Will try again.
Sorry to hear about poor sales John. Hopefully the spread in the newspaper will bring in some more sales for you down the track.
The quality at FS has gone way down. Talked to an artist at LFOA about why they were doing FS and was told it was because they had a good mailing list and didn't live far. Agreed about the downfall in quality. The people who run it want to fill booths and they don't care with what, They run it like they run Old Town. 'Nuff said.
John, sorry to hear that LP was so slow. many artists were saying the same about Lakefont this past weekend, and the weather was close to perfect u der the big tents. It may be election year blues.
It was tough all over. One of the prize winners didn't make booth fee either, and the prize money finally kicked them over. At least I didn't skunk like the guy on the other side of me. Makes me think for the Evanston show, I might be better off making some sarcastic bumper stickers. I can see it now; "Alfred E. Neumann for president; What, me worry? You're damn right I'm worried!" I figure if I can be even handed and make some snarky stickers on each candidate, I can sell those to the drunks at Evanston.
Looks like I'm not the only one who had a less than stellar show, Robert. Sorry to hear the bad news about your sales. Of course, you never know when a show will click and people will start buying. I can't figure it out. Seems so random.
I bombed pretty badly at the show, which seems to be a trend for me this year. The crowds peaked early on Saturday then just seemed to drop out as the early afternoon hit as news of approaching rain spread. Sunday just seemed to be talkers and lookers, and few buyers. The guy next to me on one side did okay, but several others around me were in the same boat, with one painter getting skunked with no sales at all. I didn't make booth fee, although it came close at $180. What was interesting, in a bizarre way, was that none of my usual framed work sold. The only thing that sold were small black and white humor pieces that were $20 each, and were work that I did in 1991! I almost didn't put those up, and didn't get them out until about 12:30 or so. Maybe the economy is so bad people need a good laugh.
I liked the show, the way it was organized and ran, and will try it one more time to make sure this one is just a fluke. Right now I'm ready to flip a coin on Evanston Fountain Square to decide whether to bail and lose the jury fee as compared to probably losing more by showing up. After reading about Wells Street this year and being present at the Lincoln Park fiasco-fubar, I see a trend with that organizer and it ain't pretty. I may be hard pressed to make back gas, food, and lodging to do that show.