At one time this was considered Michigan's top outdoor artshow--those days are gone, I think, forever.
Here is a quick synopsis.
They charge a $400-plus booth fee with nearly 300 artists.
Two many artists for too few big spenders.
So, that is the Cliff-Notes Version.
For an in-depth analysis, read on.
In the glory days of Michigan shows--pre-2001- people went to Birmingham for the Shain Park show one day and then the next day they went to Rochester for Arts 'n' Apples (hereafter AA).
People bought like crazy and many artists had bigger shows at AA then they did at the Ann Arbor show.
That is now a pleasent past memory. Mind you, all the heavy hitters on the circuit were there, unless they were lucky enough to be at Saint Louis. We are talking about last weekend, in case you are not sure.
Galbo and Luciano were down on the same row dukeing it out. Photos weren't exactly flying out of either's booth.
Fact was, photos and other 2-D art weren't flying out of many booths, mine included.
Crafters seemed to do better.
Ceramicist beside me with raku sold steadily all thru the show.
Metal sculptor behind me killed them all show long (we will get to that later).
The Paint Creek Center for the Arts runs the show--it is a fund-raiser for them.
Trouble is, they are the only ones making out well. Their booth fee is way to high for the average sales return.
When you are charged $400 plus for a booth--there are certain expectations.
You should be able to turn at least $3.5 K or higher for that kind of money. Most exhibitors were lucky if they hit the mid $2.5K range.
It was mostly lowed sales. Mostly in the $50 and under range. Good luck with that.
Setup is pretty mellow. You can setup Thursday, day before show, or Friday before show opens at 4:30 going to 7:30.
Saturday show ran 9 AM to 7:30 AM. God knows why.
Sunday, show was 9 AM to 4 PM, vans got let in after 5PM.
Teardown can be hectic. Booths are all on grass with ample storage room behind. That was the one plus.
Their free food bag was a joke. You got one over-ripe banana with some fruit bar that glowed in the dark and one other tiny mysterious package. No water, no coffee. So much for the $400-plus booth fee.
Saturday was chillier than you know what, I had one five layers of clothing trying to stay warm. It also did a little pissy rain that lasted about three hours and killed sales. Overall, Saturday sucked. Why we had to be there on Friday, I have no idea. We just wasted a bunch of time. Sunday brought good weather and average crowds, not tons of buyers. It was Ann Arbor redux again. Most of them just walked on by without really caring to look. There were very few packages in anyone's hands.
My take on it, is this show is not worth the loot charged. Go to Saint Louis, go to Swampfest, go anywhere but don't go to Rochester.
About my sculptor neighbor.
He has a good gig going, except it drives all his neighbors batty.
Basically, he is selling a metal horn about 5 inches long anchored to a wooden tray that you then put your smartphone on with its new extra cover that has four tiny speakers in it and voila, you have loud music.
Trouble was, he only downloaded a John Phillip Sousa march song to be played on his demo model. After listening to Sousa's march a million times in one day, I was ready to puke, so were my neighbors.
We told him how we felt about it and he listened well. We heard no more Sousa the rest of the show.
Sorry, my blog is not more positive, but that's the way it was. I won't be back, nor a bunch of others.
I did get a great Tequila Report out of Rochester and that will come next.
Aloha. Nels.