TIME EXPOSURE NEAR THE END OF THE SHOW ON SATURDAY NIGHT. IT NEVER LET UP.
I just can't say enough about this show. It's hard to believe I had lost some sleep worrying about setup and parking, even though we'd done the show two years earlier. We were in a different spot this year with different logistics.
As it turned out, setup was well organized and relaxed. No Xanax needed. The setup times were staggered nicely and we were able to unload right in front of our spot. Although the unload time was limited to 45 minutes and monitored closely, we did not feel rushed and the staff could not have been more artist friendly.
Parking has improved. There was a parking garage right across the street from us for normal size vehicles. There was a parking lot for oversize vehicles a couple of blocks away, but we got the impression you'd better get there early and leave your van there for the show.
We elected to park at our hotel, which was within reasonable walking distance. Well, maybe for a thirty year old. Ann is still recovering from her knee installation. As for me, I'm still dealing with a bad ankle diagnosed as adult onset rollerblading. It worked out fine, however.
Tip: we started bringing a bicycle to the shows. On this trip I was able to make it to a CVS a half mile away and bring back a 20 pound sack of ice. Nice.
OK. Back to the show. We made our first sale an hour before showtime. When the show started we were flooded with paying customers and it didn't let up until closing time Sunday. We haven't seen a steady buying crowd like this since our last Ft. Worth show.
A photographer who had the corner near us had his best show of all time. One couple, longtime friends of ours, had their second best show in fifteen years. They broke 15K for the show and I'm going to guard their identity so they won't get hit up for loans.
We had our second best show since starting my second art show career nearly ten years ago.
The weather was certainly a factor. It was PERFECT. The natives said they hadn't had it this nice for quite a while. Kansas City suffered through the Summer heat wave with the rest of the country and this weekend was the first in quite some time when they could get out of their air conditioning and enjoy the outdoors.
I was not able to walk the show because I didn't want to leave Ann alone with that crowd. We had trouble restocking because the browse cart was so crowded we were blocked from accessing our replacements stored underneath it. Late Sunday a young man told us he'd tried to get into our booth twice before during the day but it was too crowded.
We had heard from other artists that although the setup was smooth and well organized, the teardown was chaotic. This proved not to be the case for us.
I could go on, but this show is one of the all time greats. If you were to ask a group of artists to finish this sentence: "My best show of all time was.." This would be in the top three.
We felt lucky to have been selected for this show and will apply again next year with crossed fingers.
Comments
Great photo, Bill. Thanks for this report.
If anyone wants to know more about the Plaza Art Fair, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg4z5U2TxRg&feature=related. There are a bunch of YouTube videos about the Plaza showing off its architecture, and fun in the sun.