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Just got back from the Bethesda Row Arts Festival in - you guessed it - Bethesda MD.  I looked all over this site beforehand for a good review of this show and couldn't find anything, so I'll try to fill in some holes for anyone else looking to do the show.  This was my first time here.  I heard the same folks put on another spring show here is Bethesda, but this review is specifically for the Bethesda ROW show in October.  I can't speak to the spring show at all.

I guess due to construction around the show site, there was a new load in plan this year and a new load out plan, so I don't know how most years go, but considering the tiny little space we are all cramming into and the busy metropolis we are in, load in went incredibly smoothly.  We were each given a load in time between 4a-7a (3:30-4a was a free load in time).  My load in time was at 5am, but on the way to Maryland from Ohio the night before, my truck had broke down 45 miles away.  After being held hostage by a mechanic for several hours, we managed to get the truck at least moveable and made it to Bethesda and parked in Waverly garage across from the Hyatt Regency where we were staying around 11pm.  The hotel had an artist rate and was just 3 blocks from the show.  If you do the show, I highly recommend it.  Parking there is $20 a night though, and right across the street there is FREE parking after 7p on Friday and through the weekend, so duh, park there...  ANYWAY... after all that drama with the truck I was afraid that it wouldn't start in the morning or it would break down on the site, so we decided to go in at the 3:30 load in time (hooray for 3 hours of sleep!).  Fortunately it did start.  We drove right up to our booth, unloaded everything on the sidewalk, moved the truck to the garage right off Bethesda/Woodmont (which is also free on weekends) and came back to set up.  There are tons of free parking garages around and an open lot for oversized vehicles about a 10 minute walk away.

The show is held on Elm and Bethesda (parallel to each other) and Woodmont (connects the two).  I didn't walk the show, but I saw on the booth map that there is a spur off Woodmont that I doubt I would want to be on.  I think other than that spur, the booths would get even traffic.  My booth was in the shade of very tall buildings and trees 100% of the time.  Next year I'd bring lights and my marine battery.  Not sure if Woodmont got better light.

After setup, we had plenty of time, so we walked back to the hotel, took showers and got cleaned up.  I love being within easy walking distance to the show! 

The show is well run.  Each street has a block captain if you need anything.  Seth was very sweet and helpful.  There is a nice artist hospitality building with bagels, fruit, nuts, snack bars, water, and coffee.  There are nice awards if you're one of the lucky ones.  I never had anyone come around offering to booth sit, but I had a helper with me so it didn't matter.

The booth layout is TIGHT!!!  Think 1" on each side and back to back to spare.  You are completely sandwiched in there, and there is not any space at all behind you for storage.  Depending on where you are, there might be some sidewalk room across from your booth, but I doubt many of the businesses would appreciate having their doorways used as storage.  I just moved my propanels in and made storage inside my booth.  It is something to take into consideration though.  When they say no storage room, they mean it!

So as for the show stats, this was sort of a perplexing one for me.  I had decided that with expenses factored, I needed to do a minimum of $3K to even potentially consider doing again, and then I had a personal goal for the show.  Plus who knows who much my truck will cost to get repaired - so that's looming over my head too.  Saturday is by far usually my best day.  I sat there all day Saturday and only sold prints and one $800 painting.  Didn't even make half what I needed.  Oh, and the weather is great too.  Lots of bags for the cupcake place nearby and Williams Sonoma going by, but no art bags.  Starting to get discouraged, but I was told by a few artists that Sunday is their best day here.  Alexandria is nearby, and both years I've done it, Sunday was better, so I was holding out hope. 

Sunday comes.  We open at 10.  I sit there until 2:30 and have only made $80!  I'm really getting discouraged now.  And then suddenly, a wave of people come in buying $500 painting after $500 painting and placing custom orders for even more.  The show closes at 5.  In that 2.5 hour time period, I went from less than $1500 to over $5000.  That's how this business rolls.... ended up selling 6 paintings in that 2.5 hour window.  So now I'm a happy camper.  Confused as to how I actually ended up with money in my pocket.... but happy nonetheless!

Load out was sort of hairy.  It seems from the after-show email that they had to do load out different than normal, but that this structure will continue for 2-3 years while construction is done to the area.  I don't know what its normally like, but this year you had to completely break down and move everything onto the sidewalk.  Easy peasy - done in less than an hour.  Then you had to find your block captain and they inspect your space and give you a load out pass.  My captain looked and approved, but then we had to wait for the load out pass. Everyone is so crammed in there that even if you are cleared and good to go, you have to wait for any cars who have come in before you to move out before being given an actual pass to get your vehicle.  So waited and waited.  Finally got my pass and miraculously my truck started!  By the time I got out of the parking garage though, I had to wait in a line of a bunch of other artists who had got their passes too.  More waiting and waiting and waiting while my truck threatened to break down right in the intersection of Bethesda and Woodmont.  Finally got in, and loaded everything up in about 10 minutes.  But THEN two other vehicles had blocked me in, so again had to wait and wait and wait until they moved out of the way.  Once we finally got out, it had been an hour of breaking down and an hour of waiting to get in/get out.  Could have been worse.  Next year I'll just go get dinner at one of the gazillion restaurants nearby and then come back after 6:30 when some of the booths have cleared out already.

In case you're wondering how the truck saga ended, with 4 cylinders misfiring, I wasn't about to travel 7 hours through the mountains back home to Ohio.  So my husband had left Ohio in the morning with a tow truck, met us 15 miles outside of Bethesda, and towed us back home.  Poor guy spent 17 hours in the car that day.  We ended up getting home at 5:15am and my 3 year old woke up at 7:30.  Hooray for 2 more hours of sleep!  Its an adventurous life we lead. 

So to wrap up, yes, I think I'd definitely do the show again.  I love that everything is right there.  Makes logistics nice.  Sales ended up being real good, despite what it seemed it would be just 2 hours prior to the show end.  Just goes to show that you can't give up hope.  Although its always nice when you sell a lot at the beginning of the day Saturday and can just rest easy.  OH!  One thing though, practically EVERYONE wanted a discount.  One guy pressed so hard for a 33% discount I almost refused to sell him a painting even at full price, and I've never got that way with a patron, but eventually you cross a rude line there's no returning from.  Someone even asked if I'd do a discount on a $30 print.  Really?!  Mark your stuff up if you must so people feel they are getting a deal.  It is the end of my show season now, so I'd actually already marked things down, so I was feeling a bit robbed.  I'll normally negotiate 5-10% but people were really asking for huge amounts off. 

In the end, all my neighbors ended up doing well.  None of us started off Sunday that way though.  So I'm glad Sunday came through for everyone, and I hope to be able to do the show again in 2018.

Hopefully I didn't forget anything.  I'm seriously sleep deprived and wine infused at this point, and dealt with 3 hours of a toddler's temper tantrums today, so if there's anything you want to know about the show, let me know and I'll respond back. 

I just want to say to Connie and all who particpate on this site that while I have disappeared for a month or two I am in love with this site all over again.  The content is great!  I love seeing booth shots and detailed reviews of art fairs.  The month of May was hectic - shows each weekend and no time to really catch up doing stock.  All the fairs were in Maryland and have to say Maryland is a good state to be in as my sales are better than last years totals.  

The "story" I have to share pertains to my dad.  I was lucky that I didn't have any fairs for June as my dad, who has been in poor health for 9 years took a turn for the worse - the month I didn't have fairs.  That month being June.  He passed away two weeks ago and just have to say that despite it being a hard thing to go through I am relieved he isn't suffering and didn't happen when in the middle of doing an art fair.  I was doing a great show - Wine in the Woods in Columbia, MD when I had the awful thought - what if I get "the call" in the middle of the fair".  I didn't but the thought scared me to death....  My dad was an avid photographer and taught me a lot about taking photographs, framing and appreciate art in general.  He, in return, was one of my biggest fans.  On that note, has anyone here had to deal with running a business on top of dealing with the death of a loved one?  Right now I am playing catch up as I do not have any fairs in July or August (but not ruling out August entirely) meanwhile helping my mom deal with, well paperwork and such.  I am guessing I should go by the old addage - Just do it - get the work done so it is out of the way and move on to more creative fun work.  So, does anyone have any stories or advice for me with regard to this topic?  My next show, the Maryland Seafood Festival,  is in early Sept. and going to be my biggest show ever which I think, providing the weather will be good, could be a great pay day for me.  My focus is taking the time now to get my ducks in a row so I can do a good job at that show.  Just an FYI in case people are wondering.   I hope all are having good shows and continue to have good shows.  I plan on checking in more often now.  :-)  - Michelle

P.S.  I now have a lot of his work, would it be a good idea to do a "private show" exhibiting his work?  Has anyone done anything like that before - like an open house, or showing at a library or something along that line?  I have only sold my items at art fairs, so this also is new territory 

Paragon runs events in silver spring maryland in the fall and spring. Does anyone have info on those events or on the producer?

So, this past weekend Oct 16th and 17th was the Bethesda row art show in Bethesda Maryland.

Unfortunately it is one of those shows with a Saturday morning set up starting at 5 a.m. That being said, set up was very well organized with easy unload and plenty of time to be set up before the show. Every street has a street captain and they kept things moving and traffic to a minimum. Free parking garages located near by made this even better. I will say that as it got later in the morning there was a back log of artists but everyone seemed to be able to set up and open on time (10:30 a.m.) with the show officially opening at 11 a.m. Show director Katie Beckett and her team did a great job.

Weather for the weekend was great. A little wind on Saturday with mostly sunny skies temperatures in the 60's. Sunday warm and pleasant with themperatures in the 70's

The jury committee did a great job with a lot of great art and artists. The quality of work was outstanding.... much along the lines of the Reston show earlier this year.

The crowds were great with people filling the streets from open until the close of the show. This also seems to be an area that appreciates art and understands that their is a price attached to one of a kind orginal art. Many wanted to know the process and what was behind the art. The people in this area were friendly and were not afraid to spend. I saw a lot of art being carried to cars including my own.

Though I didn't talk to a lot of artists (I was busy!) , neighbors seemed to be pleased with results. A great silk artist who produces wearable art across from me seemed to do well and was busy. A wood artist also across from me who makes spoons,salad tongs, forks (useable art) was busy both days for a large part of the day. And a painter beside us who sells large pieces of original work sold a couple of nice pieces. He said he usually doesn't gauge the success of a show based on what he sells at the show but more on commissions after the show. However, he was quite happy selling the pieces he sold. He has been doing this show for several years.

Nothing fancy about this show like an artisits' dinner. Awards were handed out Sunday morning, donuts were offered to the artisits off the back of a cart traveling through the show Sunday morning. Bottom line however, is that none of that really matters as long as the show is run well with high quality work and people attending willing to spend their money on art they appreciate........all of which occurred at this show.

Tear down Sunday night was again very organized with street captains keeping things moving and organized. Katie the show director also visited booths during the show to see how things were going and soliciting any comments from the artists.

Though I am relatively new with only about 20 shows in the last two years the Bethesda Row show was one of the best run, best attended and organized show I have done. I look forward to getting the opportunity to show again there next year.