Super Well Planned
Every booth is a corner booth!
What an amazingly well structured event this past weekend was! Wow. I’ve done a lot of outdoor art shows in my career, but I don’t think ‘ve ever done one that was this thoughtfully planned. From a neighborhood potluck dinner the evening before straight through to the final packing up process, things were smoothly run and artists-friendly, start to finish!
This show is going to grow. I’m sure of it. I would look for this to become an A+ Regional Show within the next 5 years. If you’re an artist I strongly recommend adding this to your line up. Be sure to bring some introductory lower end pieces with you though. I should have. There were a lot of people from the area with an open mind, but lacking a big art budget. I would like to have had some $20-$25 pieces they could have selected from. I think they would have.
Solidly Good Work
The artists and craftspeople selected were all high caliber. The mix was well put together, and every person’s work was well executed.
Great Music!
They had several music stages, and booked solidly good acts all throughout the day and into the evening. Friday evening’s crowd was happy and had good traffic. Bring your lights – electricity is included in your booth fee. Saturday’s evening crowd dwindled out by where my booth had been located – but seemed to remain pretty thick near the center of the show and the main stage. Sunday’s show traffic was slower than it had been Friday afternoon and Saturday – but the people were super friendly and showed an interest in the art and music – so who knows, if I had had some inexpensive pieces I may have done alright.
They had a variety of food booths, and a beer truck. There were activities for children, and roaming entertainers too! The neighborhood was charming and most of the galleries were open as well adding to the festive atmosphere.
Deserves to Grow
As it was for a fairly new and growing show my sales were decent and I’m looking forward to returning next year. This is a show that deserves to grow. And I think it’s going to.
Amenities for the artists:
- an endless supply of ice water delivered all throughout the day
- tasty boxed lunches
- a hospitality room
- air conditioned clean restroom trailers
- booths were spread out and each was a corner space
- electricity access
- pre-show potluck with yummy food brought by volunteers
- friendly people
Personal Highlights
They awarded my booth an award! THANK you!! (I drew a sketch of the judge dude – because his hat had made an impression on me!)
The band named The Duke of Uke. I didn’t get to hear them live because the stage they played was located far from my booth, but 2 of the band members stopped by and were so delightful I looked them up and have already downloaded some of their fun tunes! I drew them too. See above.
The show has a Facebook page, like it so you can get news for next year’s fest! Here’s their website too.
I have a slideshow on my site's post of this show: http://www.happyart.com/art-shows/upper-tier-hospitality-at-the-lower-town-art-show-in-paducah-ky/
