Welcome to Lincoln, IL.

 
Lincoln IL has a population of about 15,000. It is located between Bloomington and Springfield. This past weekend the entire city turns into an event of art and balloons. (Hot air balloons). As we drove into town on Friday evening, you saw 15-20 balloons at the edge of town. And many people stopping to watch on the side of the road. We checked out the park in the downtown area. Some roads were already closed off and a few tents were up, in the park. We found our spot. I was a little worried about the city. Would this small town be interested in our contemporary art? An "artist-friend" suggested the show, so I remained, optimistic.
 
Saturday morning arrived and we got out selves to the show. The show officially opened at 10. People were already checking out the art at 9:00. The morning sales were brisk. And I was feeling some relieve. The show had certificates that were handed out for various reasons. And people were "spending" them. We ended up with $400 in certificates, alone. Very cool. Its the most we have ever gotten from this sort of a program.
 
Traffic remains steady on Saturday and we had very good sales. When Sunday arrived, things were quieter. I believe this has a high church-attending population. We were directly across from a church, who had multiple services. As each service let out, they came over to the show. However Sunday was more of a looker, not  a buyer crowd.
 
I was very impressed with the show and the coordinators. It is well organized and they are interested in keeping artists happy. Yeah!
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  • Just another bit of "local" FYI... Lincoln is about 30-45 minutes southeast of Peoria, IL.  It's done by a number of regional artists and like Washington, IL, has the reputation for being good for a year or three and then you have to give it a rest.  It's much less expensive than a Chicago area show, has a conservative viewing base and has very supportive volunteers and coordinating organization.  Hope that helps for future planning as well!
  • @ Laura- The second half of the summer, has improved. We started out the year, very "shaky". But things are better. Some of that is the time of the year. But this spring seem to be more challenging than in the past. Each year, I drop the bottom half of the shows and look for replacements. Lincoln will remain on the 2012 list.
  • Thanks Colin for all your posts about art fairs.  I seriously need to reconfigure my art fair schedule next year and try loads of new shows, so yours and other artist's comments and recommendations are so appreciated.  Glad to read it seems your shows have been going fairly well this summer.  See you further on up the road... happy trails!
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