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This was the 22nd year for the Garage Sale Art Fair.  I love coming to this show.  There is something for everyone here.  This show is held the last Saturday of February.  Winter can be rough in Kalamazoo and by the end of February people are ready to get out and shop.

The show is put on by Bonnie Blandford and Michael Kifer of Road Wife Productions LLC.  The show is held in the Kalamazoo County Expo Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  It is a one day show and this year was held on February 25th.  

The show is held in 2 large rooms.   Artists set up on Friday.  Bonnie and Michael provide refreshments during set up which was very much appreciated.  

Shoppers show up first thing in the morning.  There is usually a large group of them waiting to get it.  I have been there when there was a very long line to get it.  Shoppers can sign up for drawings that take place hourly throughout the day .  If your name is called you win shopper bucks to spend at the show.

Bonnie also makes announcements about special deals all day long.  Artists will occasionally make a special offer to draw people to their booth.  The special deals seem to be very popular in the afternoon towards the end of the day when artists decide they don't want to take some stock back home.

You can find great pieces of art to buy at this show.  Most of art work doesn't have so much as a single flaw. Some pieces are for sale because the artists want to make space for their new show stock.  Plus, you can also find some strange things that artists are trying to get rid of.  I have seen pieces of iron sewer pipe, a microwave, booth lights, an antique photographer's tripod, and much more.  I am always surprised to see the huge variety of things you can buy and sometimes even more surprised that it has disappeared at the end of the day.

Alison Fox, whose booth you can see above, is a stained glass and mixed media artist.  She always stocks her booth with some great pieces of art work.  She also stocks it with all kinds of weird objects that she collects throughout the year for her art work.  Alison will sell everything she brings to the show. I have walked by her booth and watched her get rid of everything by mid afternoon.  She is amazing!

The show goes til 4 pm.  It is not uncommon for some artists to be sold out by 2 pm.  That has to be a great feeling for an artist.  

I'd like to mention the yellow shopping bags.  Shoppers will buy themselves one of those nice yellow Garage Sale shopping bag and fill them up.  By the way, what a great idea to have those shopping bags available.  It is not uncommon for shoppers to get to the show and buy more than they planned on and realize that they didn't bring anything to put all their purchases in.  I have seen so many people walking around with those nice bags which are usually full, too.  The shopping bags help to make more purchases easier to handle.  What a great idea!

This photo was taken in the morning around 10 am.  Shopping is well under way.  The selections are good. There is something for everyone.  People come to this show with the full intention of shopping and buying.  

There are 145 artists at this show.  There is a nice selection.  I didn't think any one category was top heavy.  

I took photos that better showed the crowds but those photos were blurry.  

Below you can see two                                                                                                               

                                    shoppers that are looking intently over
some ceramic pieces.     oh hey, it is Connie       Mettler.  You never know where she will show up.  

This show will be held February  24, 2018.       That gives you almost a year to fit this show into your schedule.  

If this show is out of the question for you there is one in Wisconsin and Ohio that may work out better for you.  We all hold onto stuff we don't need anymore.  This show is a great way to get rid of some of that.

Until next February 24th, oh, I can't wait.                                                                                
                                                                                                      

     The Garage Sale Art Fair was held February 27th.  I really look forward to this show every year.  It is great fun catching up with people and the deals are crazy good.  Usually I am there as a shopper.  This year I went with Connie to sell some of Norm's art fair equipment and his art work.  I have not helped her do a show in about ten years.  It was always fun being on the artist's side of the fence and I missed that.  It was really nice talking to the artists as we set up.

     So, three of us loaded up a cargo van, and I happened to be the only person with two good hands, and headed for Kalamazoo.  The load in was super easy.  We were able to park right next to one of the many entrances into the Kalamazoo County Expo Center.  So, the walk from the van to our booth was fairly short.  There wasn't any extra space around the booths for storage.  This event is held indoors and space is at a premium.  That wasn't a problem though because the van was not far away.  We were able to go back and forth all day to get things. 

     The doors opened at 9:30 am on Saturday morning for customers.  The line was huge and stretched out for a long ways indoors.  People said it was huge outside, too.  When they let the crowds in the place was packed.  At about 12:30 I heard thy had already had 6,000 people come.  Shoppers want to get there early because the deals are so good.  By one o'clock I was already seeing a few booths had shut down and left because they had already sold out.  

     This show is produced Michael Kifer and Bonnie Blandford's Road Wife Productions LLC.  They do a great job.  They were always visible to take care of problems.  Even though Saturday is wild and crazy they were both in great moods and they stayed like that all day long.  On Friday night during set up they served cold bottled water and pizza.  Someone brought in the best brownies to share, too.  Then, on Saturday, to encourage shopper spending, they have a drawing.  About once an hour they draw a shopper's name and give them $20 in Garage Sale bucks to spend at the show.  About 2 pm Bonnie began making announcements from artists for further mark downs.  Poor Bonnie was getting these announcements fast and furiously.  She happily stayed on course and kept making announcements. 

      Artists occasionally posted funny signs to grab the customer's attention.  This sign was on Alison Fox's table.  Alison came with a tons of things.  I walked by her booth about 2 in the afternoon and she was down to a few pieces. 

     This show had about 150 artists.  The artists were housed in to adjoining rooms.  There was food available to purchase from the concession stand in the building.  The food was not the highlight of the day and people were not there to eat but to shop. 

      This artist with the pottery sells a lot of his inventory every year.  I have seen him before but this year he was determined to get rid of it all.  This was taken later in the day when most of his stuff was gone.

There are about 150 artists that get into this show.  Many artists apply hoping to get one of those spots.  I saw several AFI members there.  AFI member Joan Tweedell was not far from our booth.  I have read many of her show reviews over the years but hadn't met her.  She had some very pretty work with her.

My iPhone usually takes crisp photos but I think it was taking a hiatus the day I was at the show.  I had to sharpen these photos.  Sorry about the blur. 

This really is a great show to get rid of your no longer wanted stock.  I have seen some strange items for sale at this show, too.  Last year someone was selling a microwave.  Every year there are a few strange items.  It is worth a try and you never know who may want that item you brought.  This show is a great way to kick off the new art show season.  See you there next year.

This week I traveled to Kalamazoo, Michigan for the Garage Sale Art Fair put on by Bonnie Blanford and Michael Kifer.  I have attended this show several times in the past but this was the best one yet. 

The place was packed.  There were lots and lots of shoppers.  There were 138 juried artists with amazing art work.  Most of the artists had art work that they wanted to sell off before the spring shows start.  They were cleaning out their inventory.  However, the art all looked like it was in great condition.  There were deals there to be had and the shoppers were in a buying frenzy.

I tried to talk with a few of the artists but they were kept pretty busy by shoppers.  I don't recall any artist just sitting there without several shoppers in their booth.  I even heard some shoppers talking about the fact that it was hard to just leisurely stroll into the booths because they were so full of shoppers.  Many of the artists could barely bag up the sales fast enough to get to the next shopper.  What a problem, eh?

We arrived early to the show.  I think we got there about half an hour after the place opened.  There were lines already to pay to get into the building.  It cost $5 to get in and that didn't seem to bother anyone trying to get in to this show.  This show has a great reputation in the Kalamazoo area for good deals and this show has a great following of loyal customers.  

There are lots of people helping to make sure this show runs off well.  There were workers helping in the coat check room, at the door when you arrive, in the lobby, and inside the show area selling bags to carry to shoppers to carry their purchases in. Event staff was everywhere. 

People were allowed to check their purchases at the coat check room so that they didn't have to lug early purchases around with them all day.

Shoppers could also enter a raffle to win money to spend at the show.  Every so often they drew someone's name and the prize was $19 because it was the 19th anniversary of this show.  That is always a hit with the crowd.
This show goes til 4 pm.  I saw at least one artists had completely sold out by about 1:30 and he was packed up and gone.  Yeah, it was the yard sculpture guy and everybody seemed to be walking around with a piece of his stuff. 

But, by 2 pm you could really tell that the shopping frenzy was settling down.  By 2 pm there were also some artists that were offering a little bit better deal to entice those final sales before it was time to pack up and leave. 

There were some AFI artists there, too.  Barry Bernstein was there but he was too busy to talk to.  I saw Vinnie Sutherland walk by.  Vinnie has been to this show before.  Gayle Weiss finally got in this year after being wait listed.  She had some gorgeous jewelry that she rarely marks down so shoppers were getting a deal.

Connie also found Steven Huyser-Honig at the show. 
Sometimes I lost track of Connie because she
was always busy checking in with artists. She still managed to score some great deals as she made her way through the booths.

If you keep your eyes open you can find a few things you would never expect to see at an Art Fair.  This year's crazy find was a microwave someone was trying to get rid of.

The best deal for me for the day was I finally got to meet Photographer Jim Parker.  I have read his posts through the years and it was nice to meet him in person and his lovely wife.  Jim gave Connie and I each a photo!  Connie got a gallery wrap of Jim's famous "Dune Girl" and I got a framed "Dune Girl."  Jim has great work and I enjoyed looking at his display as did many other customers who kept Jim busy all day. 

This is a great show to clean out your old stock.  The shoppers are hungry and they were making multiple purchases.  This would be a great show to kick off the start of a new show season to make room for new stock.   Bonnie Blanford and Michael Kifer did a great job with this event as they have also done in past years. 

(Disclaimer) These photos seemed a lot sharper on my phone.

This year is rapidly coming to an end.  Soon the 2012 shows will be over and artists will be conteplating new work for the 2013 season.  I was just wondering, what do you all do with the inventory you don't want to haul to your 2013 shows?  Do you have a small show in your home, do you store it away, do you give it away as gifts, do you use pieces for donation purposes?  I do know of 3 "garage sale" shows where artists can unload unwanted items.  I think they are great.  The shoppers appear to be going nuts for a few deals from their favorite artists. 

We have one of those "garage sale" shows right here in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Bonnie Blanford puts on the "Garage Sale Art Fair" in Kalamazoo.  She has special deals announced every hour, food to keep shoppers from leaving for lunch, and hourly drawings.  Bonnie holds her show in February when there isn't much else to look forward to here in Michigan. 

I know Colin Murray has one in Waukesha, Wisconson.  Colin holds his event, "Artworks: Studio Clearance Sale", in January.  I imagine Wisacon has to be as bleak as Michigan is in the winter.  I think Colin once mentioned that everything sells out there, too.

There is also one in Columbus, Ohio.  It is called the "Art Studio Clearance Sale" and is also held in January. 

Have you done any of those shows?  Have you thought about applying?  What was your experience?  Will you do it again?

Let us know what you do with your unwanted inventory.  This may help others who just have no idea of what to do with the extra art work that for some reason just didn't seem to catch anyboy's eye this past year.