This was the inaugural year for Midtown Art Festival. It was only one week and a few blocks away from Atlanta Art Festival so I was concerned about the timing.
The show is on Peachtree Street. So set up was kinda crazy at first. This is one of the main roads through all of ATL. They did not close down the street until 8pm Friday night. People were given different times to come in to set up, starting from 8pm until 10pm. There were those of us who are rule followers and got and stayed in line and those who drove thru the barriers and just went for it ;) I was second in line, but I really should have just gone for it and gone down a side road to get to my booth, but I I am one of those rule followers. It was a late night set up, but much better then setting up the morning of a show IMO.
As far as parking, I think they did a great job. There were at least 3 different parking areas and you were assigned to the one closest to your booth. In my area I was able to park just on the otherside of the sidewalk from my booth. Since it poured rain on Sunday this was a HUGE help.
The crowd was excellent on Saturday. A sea of people, the way I like it. The crowd was also made up of young professionals, D.I.N.K.s, and art buying couples. I actually have a stroller rule. If a mom, dad and stroller comes into my booth I am very friendly and welcome them but I don't put a lot of energy into them. Either the kid wants to get to a moonjump or the dad is impatient. If it is two women with strollers then that is a different story. Anyway, I have only ever sold to a stroller set once before and that was because the husband stayed out too late with his buddies the night before and was in the dog house during the art show and had to get anything the wife wanted ;) Midtown was the exception to my rule. The kids in strollers were very well behaved and the moms and dads were there to buy art together. The crowd walked around with wine and beer, but it didn't turn into a huge frat party like some of the shows do. Everyone had just enough of a buzz to be happy.
To the important part, I paint large abstracts and my price point is between $500-$1000. I do offer inexpensive small prints as well. At this show I didn't sell any cheap prints but I did sell many large paintings. On Saturday night I actually went home and packed up 3 more large horizontals because I had sold out of them. Sunday it poured rain most of the day. Many people packed up early, but that is not my style. I figure what is the point. I spent all this time, money and energy setting up I will stay as long as they let me. I am thrilled I did because people still came out and wanted to buy. I sold another 2k on Sunday. The booth next to me had price points between $200 - $500 and they did well. The otherside of me the price points were $1000 - $2000 and he had his best show ever. I will say that some of the booths were shabby and some stuff was VERY crafty. Many of the patrons were disappointed that there wasn't more Fine Art. All of the people that had what I would consider Fine Art told me they were "happy" whatever that means. I do know that the "craft" booths I talked to were not "happy".
The show was cancelled 2 hours early. I wished they would have stayed open but by then at least 1/2 the booths had left. Except for the constant rain, tear down was easy. We didn't have to wait for passes because there were so many different ways to get to your booth with a car.
If the weather would have held out for one more day this probably would have been my best selling show ever. I hope I am invited back next year. Any show done in Piedmont Park in ATL is off my list at this point. Holly and her group does a much better job for the type of art I do.
Comments
http://www.ajc.com/news/holly-allen-mull-64-676316.html
It was not a great show for me, but it was decent and I would try it again. There were lots of people, but Saturday got off to a slow start with lots of looking and not much buying. The afternoon/evening was better. Many people would look several times before buying and many said they would come back on Sunday to purchase.
Well, Sunday buyers came early and were buying multiple things, and higher price points too, but then the rain came and they all went home :/ Who knows what might have happened if the rain had held off?
Like I said, not great, but it was good. I know that they did a good bit of advertising, but I got the feeling that people were coming to the show because it was in the middle of downtown Atlanta and was something to do, not because they wanted to see/buy art.
I heard that several artists left on Saturday night because the music from the stage was too loud in their location (I didn't have any sound issues where I was). It was well staffed with volunteers and security, and having a Starbucks right there was great!
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