Well - what a difference a week makes! I raved about the HDG Seafood Festival last week, and now I must be objective about the Art Fair. It's not a BAD event. If it did not follow the Seafood Festival a week later in the same exact place, it might even be a good one. Here's my 2 cents worth:
- Organization - less than super. Promoter moving artists around, creating new spots, backing trailers between tents with less than a foot clearance each side, etc. Need better planning and stick to it.
- Artist accommodations - Pretty much none. Quite a hike to the porta potties. They did bring surveys around.
- Artist mix - pretty decent
- Buy/Sell - More than the Seafood Festival! And this is an art show. One double space with the word "Craft" in it's name was 80% cheap chinese fake murano glass and Origami Owl knockoffs.
- Quality of Vendors - all over the place. One was selling pvc flamingos that come from china, they spray paint them and sell for $25. They even repacked them in the chinese boxes. While this is "Craft", it is certainly not "Fine Craft" and has no business in an Art Fair. Same goes for the $2.00 per strand beads on Elastic. Craft, but not Fine craft, IMHO. The true artists were well represented and very, very good.
- Layout - strange, but not bad
- Customer mix - all over the page. Compared to the prior week, the 'economically challenged' clientele was a larger percentage, and much more challenged, and the upscale customer was more upscale. Many more customers that were unable to dig into the purse, lots of "I can't afford anything until payday - do you sell online".
- Sales - so-so, but not bad unless compared to the prior week. Taken as a whole, the 2 shows together work for us.
- Food vendors. Don't bother. Bring your own or go down the steps to the Promenade Grill. Vendors we overpriced and low quality (soft serve was the exception - very good)
- Other notes - too darn many dogs. We are dog owners. We love dogs. If shoppers have dogs that don't get along with people or other dogs, please leave them home. Vendors - if you have things blocking passage outside your tents, please make this the first thing you move. Had to walk an extra 50 yards to the truck with the dolly because of a blocked (unnecessarily so) pathway.
I would not drive 100 miles to do this show, but since we are already here for the Seafood Festival, it was convenient, the setting is awesome, the atmosphere was very enjoyable, the promoter was nice and easy to work with. Next year - double booth please, it will give us a better shot at good numbers!
