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My second year for this show, I’m glad I went although sales were down.  Emily Kanine works her butt off to accommodate the artists and has an easy-going, common sense approach to any glitches that may come up. 

Sales were half what they were last year for me, but I was still ahead at the end.  Several other painters I talked to reported the same thing.  I think lower price points did better, but I talked to a few of those artists too, and everyone reported a slower than expected crowd and lower sales.  Some speculated that it may have had to do with the 4^th falling mid-week and the show being prior to the fourth instead of the weekend after.  Also, it was very, very hot and I heard lots of folks say they were heading to the lake.  My average sale is $500, and I had several.  Another painter friend of mine sold a 5K piece, so there were some higher priced successes.

This fair does have some buy/sell and some trinkety stuff and I talked to next year’s promoters about it.   I hope other artists talk to them about it as well and that they address it. It really is a nice show, but they could eliminate some of the buy/sell and be a little smaller.  Too many iron-on decal tee-shirts and jewelry from where-ever pretty, shiny, mass-produced jewelry comes from. 

This is a two day show in a lovely park, and set up can begin on Friday.   Load in and out is easy; there is a dollying involved, but not great distance.  There are parking spaces available before and after the show that are not far from all the booth spots if everyone is patient.  Double parking on the side streets is possible too, so everyone gets in and out without much trouble.     

We artists can be our own worst enemies... I was surprised to see so many artists that park their vehicles right outside their booths during the whole fair, instead of leaving that space for the customers.  Seems like a no-brainer to me.  Parking is an issue in Ludington and we were asked to park in a couple of other areas farther away, so the customers could park closer to the fair.  How many potential customers drove around looking for a space and left, because they couldn’t find a spot close enough to wheel Aunt Millie and her oxygen bottle in?  Duh...

They keep all the food vendors in one area and the music in my opinion was appropriate and not too loud.  I was not too close to the stage though, so I don’t know how it was for artists that set up closer.  

With our Keurig coffee maker, our Starbucks K-cups, and a couple of rolls of Northern Quilted, we checked in to The Nova Motel, which should have been named, the No-Sleep, or the  No- way, Are You Gonna Believe How Much Your Body Will Ache After Lying On Our Mattress All Night, Motel.  Honestly, I need to figure out how to get a good night’s sleep at these budget motels.  Isn’t there some sort of travel temperpedic mattress or something?  My husband tells me I should just google “portable mattresses for narcissists”.  He’s not called my Administrator of Strategic Solutions for nothing.

Most likely I’ll do this show again, especially if they address the bs.