The 45th annual Summerfair was held at Coney Island this past June 1st - 3rd. Over 800 artists applied for one of the coveted 305 spaces. Accepted artists represented 31 different states. Set up was held Thursday afternoon with Friday morning set up available. Set up is relativley easy for most of the spaces as you can drive right up to your space. Show hours are: Friday - 2:00 - 10:00, Saturday - 10:00 - 8:00 and Sunday 10:00 - 5:00. The gate fee for art fair customers is $10.
There are 10 art categories for applicants.
Categories # of accepted Artist approx. % of exhibitors
Mixed Media 2-D & 3-D 24 7%
Ceramics 42 13%
Drawing/Printmaking 15 5%
Fiber/Leather 36 12%
Glass 28 9%
Jewlery 54 17%
Metal Sculpture 36 12%
Painting 29 9%
Photography 27 8%
Wood 34 11%
The show began Friday with below avg. temperatures and a chilling wind. I believe the temps never reached 60 and was cold and damp all day. Cutomers did attend but never reaching the typical Friday numbers. Sales were sparse for most with a few stating they did have a good day.
Friday night was the Artist/Awards banquet located at the Gourmet Arts Food area of the fair. Each exhibitor was provided with (2) $10 food vouchers to spend as they wished at a variety of food booths. Susan had the barbeque chicken and I settled for the amish noodles and chicken with mashed potatoes. After a long, cold day, the warm meal was much appreciated. Summerfair awards $11,000 in prize money with $1000 for Best of Show. Category awards were for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Honorable Mention. All award winners are automatically accepted into the 2013 art show event with their jury fees waived.
Saturday was an awesome day, both weather-wise and for sales. Art show customers came by the droves to view the art and spend time in the picture perfect weather with temps. reaching the lower 70's with brightly sunny skies. It was a welcome change from Friday's chilly weather. Susan and I noticed many art customers carrying around their purchases. A wood puzzle artist accross from us was busy all day with customer purchases. A Florida artist with beautiful rope/hanmmock chairs and swings did very well. We had a steady stream of interested customers that made Saturday our best sales day and helped us have a nice Summerfair show. It wasn't a home run this year but it was a double and we will take that.
A wildlife photographer located at the entrance to the show was busy all day and another wildlife photographer had a very nice day/show. A jeweler I spoke with had a decent Saturday and a "ok" show. One potter I spoke to had a good Saturday and did well overall. On the other hand a landscape photographer along with a glass artist and painter struggled for most of the show including Saturday.
Sunday was another picture perfect weather day. Although art fair customer numbers were not quite as good as Saturday, the show was busy. Some artists had a great Sunday while others did mediocre. I would guess that there were approximately 20,000 - 25,000 customers that attended for the 3 days. Just received an e-mail from Summerfair stating that they had 25,000 paid customers walk through the gate.
Like most Art Shows, the Summerfair layout has it's good (high traffic) locations while others are in what I would call a "lesser traffic flow" area. There are plenty of shaded spots and lots of sunny spots. One just has to reference the booth layout map and figure out what location would be best for them.
Teardown is not too bad. The staff stages the vehicles/trailers outside of the show in the parking lot and then lets them drive into the booth space area around 30 minutes after the end of the show. There is a staff member that is waiting for each vehicle who will stop you and help you get to your booth location.
The Summerfair staff was very friendly and helpful. They made themselves available by driving their golf carts throughout the show all 3 days and trying to resolve any problems that occurred. I do know they relocated one artist that had issues with his space and both the artist anad the staff were happy with the result. Overall the jury does a nice job of selecting artists and the quality of the show was very nice. One small perk I enjoyed was the Summerfair VIP Concessions. It was located on the 2nd floor of Moonlight Gardens and offered the artists discount prices on drinks, snacks, bagles, fruit etc. How often is it that you can get a .50 soda and/or Dorito snack bag at an art show event?
Both Susan and I like exhibiting at Summerfair. Over the last 3 years we have established a nice following. It is the only time we exhibit our work in the area. Also my mother lives in Loveland, 25 miles or so from the event so it gives us a chance to catch up and visit with her and a nice place to stay.
Comments
Bill and Susan, thanks for sharing this information. It sounds like a very nice show.
Thank you Connie .
Our art is mixed media 2-D Where the Lens Meets the Brush (2-D Photography that is transformed into a 3-D piece of art via acylic pain extensions/additions. Susan has a home in Seal Beach, CA., my home is in Marysville, Ohio and we bought a home together in Naples , Floirda where we exhibit in the winter. One day we would like to exhibit in California but until we get a deidcated booth and accessories for California, it is a place where we go to relax and visit our friends and relatives. Thats where we are right now.
We have been lucky to be accepted to Summerfair the last 3 years. When I was growing up in Cincinnati, my parents would visit the art show and us kids would go swimming at Sunlite Pool, Hard to believe that many years later we would be exhibiting at this beautiful, high end art show event
305 artists is a lot of artists and a lot of ground for the public to cover, but this is a lovely park and if I lived in Cincinnati don't think I could resist the lure of all this variety.
Nice report with good facts, Bill and Susan, that should be helpful to anyone thinking about applying next year. In fact, so helpful that I added "tags" so others can search for it when planning their 2013 schedules.
Anyone reading this who posts here please note that at the end of each post there is a place to put tags, a useful searchable word that will help others locate the info.
What is your media? Where do you live?