I have a set (3 walls) of Flourish soft walls for sale. Used only 4 times and realized a full time job doesn't work with the art fair circuit. Everything is in good shape. These are black mesh with backing for EZ up tents. I also have upper and lower staybar for additional support/tightness. Comes with all of the attaching brackets, poles, s hooks and upholstery hooks. Asking $900 OBO for everything plus shipping. I'm located in CO. If you have to set up and run your booth alone- these are great. They fold up well and are an easy fit into the back of any SUV.
setup (5)
Melanie Rolfes: I love to read your show reports – they are always full of useful information. One of the things in your reports that always baffles me is how you get your booth set up and broken down so quickly. It takes my wife and me between 5 and 7:30 hours to load in and set up our booth, and 3 to 4 hours to break down and load out. And that is for a single Trimline, not the double you are setting up. How you are able to get it done in 1:30 hours and 45 minutes amazes me. What is your secret?
(Rather than post this comment in response to one of your reviews and hijacking the thread, I thought I would start a new thread, hoping others will chirp in with “tricks of the trade” regarding efficient setup and break down, making for a lively discussion on this topic).
This must be my week to rant. There must be a huge proliferation of newbies at all the shows I do, because it seems like 75% of them have never heard that you are to UNLOAD your vehicle, PARK your vehicle, THEN set up your tent and stuff. This is the 'rule' at 99% of shows, so unless there is a proliferation or rude, lazy or stupid vendors, they must be new, correct? Same goes for load-out. Great promoters are controlling load-out by not letting the vehicles in to the show grounds until they have verified that the tent is down, and all is packed up. Of course, if it is raining, the tent goes up and then put everything under, and the opposite at load out. That is the only exception. The other peeve is the guys that show up late, are still allowed to set up while the show is open. Just plain ridiculous. If you are not there on time, you don't get to participate that day. If Promoters would enforce this, it would stop. I don't want to hear about traffic, car trouble, or getting lost. All excuses, and none worth messing up the show. Plan. Expect Traffic. Buy a GPS. Get to the show the day before if needed. Just don't hurt my sales by setting up while I am trying to sell. It's unprofessional and inconsiderate. Ok, now you can all throw rocks at me, but it's not really hard to follow the rules. Of course, you would have to read them and give a d$#n.
Here's a small animation I did when I set up a black & white booth a couple of years ago.
I remember it well. It was Ocala, either 2007 or 2008. It had rained all Friday, all Saturday, and sporadically on Sunday. At about 4:00 on Sunday the sky turned black, the thunder started to rumble in the distance and it looked like it was going to get really nasty. People started to break down and about 4:30 an army of vans started coming on the field. The rules said you MUST wait for the go-ahead to bring your van on the field, no earlier than 5:30. There was this poor volunteer attempting to stand in front of the vans coming on the field, waving her clipboard, and yelling “You’re not authorized to come on the field yet”. And they just went around her. I, being a good little do bee, waited until 5:30 to go and get my van and by that time I couldn’t get my van on the field, because everyone else was already there. Guess who was the last person out of Ocala that year, breaking down alone in the dark?
Then there are two shows that come to mind immediately that have a setup time of 1:00PM on Friday. Still being a good do bee, I show up at 1:00. Half the show is already set up. I can’t get a parking place anywhere near my spot and end up circling the block for 45 minutes to get a parking place at all. The following year I show up at 11:00AM and setup is wonderfully easy.
What about those rules that usually work fine when enforced and put anyone who follows them at a disadvantage when not enforced? What about those rules that must have been written by someone who has never done an art show? When you have no one behind you do you spread out the back, not only with your stuff, but with your display area? Do you put your print bin way out in front of your booth until someone tells you to move it? Or do you put your print bin out in front in self defense because your neighbor has done it and everyone is making a wide circle around their display missing your booth entirely?
Where do you draw the line?
