This was the first for the Leesburg Fine Arts Festival in Leesburg, VA (Sept 15-16). It was also my first Paragon art festival. It was ALSO my first festival out of state, so needless to say, I was a bit nervous about choosing a first year festival as my first overnighter. My husband had to work last weekend, so my mom very graciously offered to come and help me.
We got there a couple hours early and decided to stroll around the historic town of Leesburg. What a cute area! I loved the brick sidewalks and old fashioned buildings. Yep, the roads were very tiny too, so we had a staggered setup with every third booth getting 45 minutes to drive in, unload, and move to the parking area. Bill Kinney, the promoter, sent out an email afterwards apologizing for the difficulties with the setup, but I thought it went as smoothly as could be! Everyone in my section at least followed the rules and I didnt see anyone have a hard time.
The only bad thing about the setup was that you either set up at 6pm, 7pm, or 8pm. I was in the 7pm group, and by the time we unloaded it was already getting dark. And it got really dark! There were street lights, but not many, and the one by our area was flickering ominously like something out of of horror movie. We were also on a hill and I had never set up my propanels before (I had mesh walls before), and learning to set them up on a hill in the dark was not the way I hoped to learn! Fortunately my friend Russ Shaffer ran over and helped us idiots out. After 4 hours of fumbling in the flickering darkness, we headed to the DoubleTree Hotel in Sterling. If anyone ever needs a hotel in the area, STAY THERE! It was awesome! Hot cookies at check out, robes, a real hairdryer... ladies, need I say more?
The next morning, we headed back over and started hanging paintings. I had got the impression from the show essentials paperwork that maybe the businesses were not really happy with us being there, but that didnt seem to be the case at all. At least where we were on King Street, the owners kept coming out and offering us drinks and access to their bathrooms (were were supposed to use designated bathrooms that I never saw). I was amazing how much time they spent getting to know us and making sure we were taken care of. Once we even got coffee served on a platter! Talk about royal treatment!
The show started at 10am, and by 11am I was getting worried. There didnt seem to be much happening. But then from noon till 3 the floodgates opened and a rush of people came through! At one point I had a line of people holding paintings with their credit cards in hand while I processed the cards and my mom was wrapping paintings! I had read about this happening but had never seen it myself! And I was seeing many people walking by with large paintings or furniture as well. It really was a sight to behold. Being a newbie (this is my second year), I had not participated in a festival where so much fine art was moving and I thought "this must be what art festivals used to be like! This is what they should be like!" During that 3 hour period I made about $2300! More than enough to cover all my expenses and still have extra! I was a happy girl!
After 3pm, it really slowed down, but I still saw plenty of art go by. There was an artist reception party at 6:30 after the festival closed that evening, but I was still pooped from the long drive and late setup the day before, so we went back to the hotel and vegged out. Would have loved to have been able to meet and greet with the other artists though.
Sunday was definitely down in traffic from Saturday, but I had a couple be backs and at the end of the day I had a $800 sale and some smaller ones during the day too, which brought my sales to just under $4000 for the weekend!
I don't have one single complaint about this venue or Paragon. It was a very well run and well put together show. Bill was there all weekend with us and came by a couple times to check in, which I appreciated. I had plenty of people mention the advertising and I saw fliers up all around. For a first year show, I was blown away. It has incredible potential and I'm super glad I got in on the ground floor. And I'm looking forward to the Silver Springs show with Paragon next month now too!!
Comments
LOL Steve. You were not dreaming. I asked Harrison if it was the home of Washington & Lee. He wrote a blog on this, too a little earlier. Thanks, I finally looked it up myself. (one of the beauties of the internet).
I was also at the Leesburg show, just down the street from Britt. It wasn't as good a show for me financially, but it was still a fantastic show, and I have the feeling that it holds great promise and great potential. Five of my paintings sold, which is swell, but they were all small. I had serious interest in some of the big ones, and if I play my cards right and do the work, I might get some commissions from the show.
Leesburg is a cool little city with neat shops and fun restaurants, and the shop owners, as Britt said, were warm and welcoming. The restaurant behind me not only let me use their restroom, but gave me free coffee the entire time, even sending waitpeople out to ask if I wanted more! I displayed their menu in my booth for the entire show, and sent folks there when they asked for lunch ideas.
It was my first Paragon show, too, and I was impressed with the organization and with Bill. I really like the way he monitored the show and handled information and communication before, during and after. And the quality of the work was fabulous!
People who came to the show were friendly and pretty knowledgeable, and while they didn't spend a lot in my booth, they did come to spend. It really was a delightful show, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
I am so happy that the show went well for you. I live in Fairfax, VA and I am not aware of any decent shows in Leesburg, until your review of this show, so I am sure this was a contributing factor to the shows success. Also Leesburg, is in Loudon County, which has been ranked as the wealthiest county in the US for a couple of years, so this was also working in your favor! I am delighted to hear the show was well received. Good Luck in Silver Spring!
My parents used to take us to Leesburg for a drive in the country. It is no longer country around it but it still looks like small town America. It was a great place for a show. I did well and will be going back next year.
There is a cool flashlight sold at Graingers. It is rechargeable and not only has the flashlight part but also a larger light. It has a magnet on the end so once I have the tent poles up I can stick it on one and have enough light to set up. It's around $90 but well worth the money.
Thanks Harrison! Glad to be elucidating rather than hallucinating :)
I had left a review on the festival and a question was asked about Washington and Lee university. Thanks Steve for the clarification.
Harrison Otalor
No problem. Maybe it was on one of the other reviews of the show. There's a couple floating around :)
Britt, excuse me... :) I guess I should have said that when I originally saw these posts, I THOUGHT someone asked a question regarding Leesburg and the location of W&L. It is possible that I was hallucinating or that I've completely lost all my marbles. I didn't mean to slander, nor cast aspersions, nor cause any anxiety to anyone with my (what I thought to be helpful) comment.
Not in my original post....
In the original post, there was some question about Leesburg being the home of Washington & Lee University, it is actually in Lexington, VA.
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