It is never fun when a show has to cancel for any reason. Today the new show Peachtree Hills Festival of the Arts in Atlanta was canceled because of all the rain forcasted for today. We did have yesterday though and I had some AFI members ask me about this show so I can write a bit of a review.
This was the first time for this show. AFFPS puts this show on and like I have said many many times they are excellent to work with. They are all about the artist. I am very excited about this area. ADAC is right there and supports the show. That is where artist parking was. Many art galleries and a few restaurants in the area. They had a fancy wine place, a fancy restaurant that was too fancy for me after a hot day working and a great restaurant/pub with misters and the best grouper sandwich or salmon blt and of course cold beer. There couldn't be a better place to go after a long day working a show and it was just a few steps away from my booth. A real neighborhood in the middle of everything. I think I actually want to move to this area one day. The houses aren't huge but have lots of character. They remind me of the houses in Ann Arbor near the painted rock. 30 somethings mainly, a good market for me.
Set up was on Friday from noon till 8 and you could drive up to your booth. Nice and easy set up. There were not many artists, maybe 100 and good quality. Booths were on the street across from eachother and there was a sidewalk behind the tent with a fence on the other side. Perfect for leaning you stuff up for set up and break down. I had enough room behind my booth to set up propanels on my 5' awning to create an extra room. I think everyone had this much room in back and we all needed it because there was not any extra room between booths. It was tight. There was some craft but that was in a different area from the art. It was a very nice Art show, mainly about the art, not too big and not too small and not a ton of dog walkers.
The crowds were not huge on Saturday but did seem to pick up later in the day. It was a nice day for June in Atlanta and advertising was great. There was an electronic billboard right on Peachtree directing folks to the show. I set up some appointments for Saturday morning because I figured it wouldn't be crazy busy and I am glad I did. Sales seemed slow for most on Saturday. Before closing staff came by and told us they may have to cancel Sunday due to weather. We were told we would get an email in the morning. Some folks packed up, and some even left. I went to the pub for dinner. Sure enough Sunday morning around 9am we got the email. It was suppose to rain all day and just get worse. We were allowed to drive up to our tents so our work wouldn't get wet. All very civilized and went smoothly. It is never fun to breakdown in the rain, but if you have to, this is the way to do it.
I will be back next year. I am excited about this area, and I have many clients who live there. Until it becomes better known having a mailing list would really help. It is an easy show for the patrons, not too big, easy parking and easy for people to get their art back to their cars. If you have to travel for this show you might want to let us locals build it a bit, but for the local artists who do well in Atlanta's ITP market this is a show to watch.
Comments
Great review Melanie and how lovely to hear about fantastic advertising and promoters who looked after their artists :)
This show sounds promising. Thanks to all for sharing with us.
I did this show and the first thing that comes to mind is THANK YOU!
We were sitting at the red light and saw the billboard and it just made you feel good when you drove in. We also saw yard signs and a banner - the advertising was well done.
We got caught in the rain driving home just south of Atlanta and it was so heavy that we had to pull over and wait it out for a while, my husband and I just kept saying over and over - I can't believe how lucky we were to get out when we did and how nice everyone was to us. We watched the news later and learned that parts of Alabama had flash flooding and some areas had up 13 inches of rain. The group over at AFFPS really really care not only about every aspect of the show - but - US!
To many shows, I've sat in the rain, just waiting to close only to have my work ruined and damaged, because the "promotor" wanted to wait, with no communication. Every step of the way, someone was keeping us informed about the weather.
I did the "Dunwoody Arts Festival" a few weeks again (by another group) - it was terrible !!
It started to rain on Saturday night- not a word from the promoter - it rained ALL DAY SUNDAY and still no one walked around and told us anything, we sat in our tents watching others close up, finally we just closed, not a peep from the promoter.
At Peachtree Hills the load out was so calm, well executed and everyone worked together, I was just amazed. My husband and I were golf carted to our car from the parking lot, who does that?
Lisa and Bethany even offered us snacks, and plastic bags to cover up my work, while we were loading out!! Randall made a point of making sure our car was parked as close to our tent as possibly, so our stuff wouldn't get wet. I just couldn't believe it, no one does, I'm so used to being told by a volunteer what I can't do. The group over at AFFPS were looking for ways to make it easier.
Did you see the little house that was for sell as you check in? I pulled the flier, it was listed at almost $800,000!! and the neighborhood was loaded with them.
My sales were OK, the traffic was steady on Saturday all day, and there was a Jazz musician across from us. I also noticed the vacate lot and the developer has plans for million dollar homes.
The setting was amazing, I didn't know Atlanta had neighborhoods like that. Like you, Melanie, I thought, I want to live here. I've done Summerfest and I liked this neighborhood better, and the fact that the Atlanta Design Center (ADAC) signed on as their design partner excited me. I was featured in an email blast, its not often that you have a show send your work out to 18,000 designers. It just goes to show that they really care and are looking for partners to promote the event and the artists.
I would rather lose part of a day, then lose my work.
And, if I have to sit in the rain... I would rather sit in my car... then under a wet tent, trying to protect my work.
I say, good call, but people that really care!! I'll be back.
The development will be mixed senior living, ie, they can purchase a townhouse (looks like large homes, but might have 4 different condos in the structure) and then move into an apartment in a group setting when they need more help, and then there are options for assisted living as they age. These are projects which began springing up in urban environments about 10 years ago, and they are now firmly established. In this case the signage is rather weathered, and not unlike similar projects seen around the metro area which date from the 2007 peak (pre-meltdown). As such they could be very misleading, since the original developers could well be unable to finance the projects in the current conditions. The actual Peachtree Hills Park located at one end of the show footprint (across from ADAC) is actually very small, whereas the future development is the large fenced-off area.
I forgot about the possible building Stan. I noticed a sign along a side fence when I was packing up. In my area it looked like large homes they were thinking about building, but I could be wrong. That is something to consider for next year. Before we have to apply for next year we should know a lot more.
Excellent review, Melanie. My wife and I both had booths there (she sells jewelry, and I sell my drawings and paintings). It definitely had "first year" traffic, and I agree that it would be a poor fit for someone traveling a distance with travel expenses to expect it to pay off. One aspect to keep in mind with this show is that it is located on a street straddled on both sides with fenced off vacant lots which the developers plan to turn into a retirement community for seniors. Should the construction overlap the show, this could cause real problems. Right now many such projects are "hanging" around the country as the economy struggles, so this is an unknown, but something which could "bite" in any given year. It is also noteworthy that this is a "silent" festival. The layout is not conducive to entertainment/music venues, other than a rather distant ball field at one extreme end, so there is no background music. I have placed it one next year's docket as a backup to some other shows we may consider doing while this one matures...