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This show used to be put on by local artists but has more recently been administered by the SAACA group that does other shows in Tucson. Patagonia is a great place to visit this time of year (Oct) as the weather has turned to cool nights and warm days. The location of the park in the middle of town was a great place for a show. Total number of "vendors" for this show was reduced as a COVID precaution so most booths were well spaced with about half having a large space behind for storage. There was buy/sell evident at this show and, in fact, multiple "media" in several booths. The range of quality was wide from "hand-painted" sun glasses to fine art and hand made silver jewelry of high quality. There was ample accommodation for those that had trailers to park near the show. There are limited hotel accommodations nearby and several BnB type accommodations can be had, otherwise you'd have to stay in Nogales! (20 miles away). There was a steady stream of people who came to see the show but limited buying energy on higher end items. There are a lot of people who come to this area in the fall for bird watching activities or those with second homes that "fly" south for the winter themselves. This was a typical Arizona crowd, Snow Bird older couples in the AM and mid age and younger later in the day. Booth fees are reasonable. There were plenty of snacks and water brought around by show personnel a couple times during the day. This is not a show I would do again as it was way too far to travel with a limited return. Maybe in Sedona, the same weekend, I might have fared better. If I lived in the Tucson area I might do it again as Patagonia is a nice place to visit!

Well I did the Plaza two weeks ago, it is always on the last weekend in Sept.

This has always been one of my biggies.  I only get in once in seven years.

In 1999, this was the best art show I had ever done. Made thousands.

It still is a major show for most artists.  It is hard to get in, you compete against the best in the circuit.

For me the sheen has fallen off it, for reasons I will explain.

One and most important, this has turned into a giant drinkfest with lots of loud music which gets in the way of talking to customers.

This used to be about great show for selling originaL art. Now, we are secondary to booze and music.

Show starts at 5pm on Friday with a morning setup.  Goes til 10pm, on Saturday, 10am to 10 pm. Sunday, 11am to 5pm.

They gave us 12 foot square spaces, so your rear neighbor is two foot behind, close quarters. 
They gave us one hour to unload and start to setup. Then go park and come back.

We bucked 20 mph winds setting up. The temps were in the 70's the first two days, then on Sunday it jumped to 92 degrees.

Just our luck, on Sunday, the NFL team had a home game starting at noon.

We had about one third the crowd of Saturday.

Friday night I mostly sold Lowend, did not clear $1500.

Saturday, was my big day. Made sales all day, but none were over $175. I also saw very few big pieces go by. Most customers had two fishbowl size cocktails in each hand. Not a lot of room for art.
Customers were mostly on the young size. Adorned in fancy shoes and outfitted with expensive satchels.

The crowd was polite and attentive.  They appreciated the great art that was there.

A glass blower behind me was wrapping big pieces all show long.  Winner,winner, chicken dinner.

Most people around me sold steadily. One great photographer I know, set a personal record record on Saturday. He was heading for the islands afterwards.  Golden margaritas coming!

This is still a great show, but it is no longer in my top five.

This was my last time here. The setup is too hard on me. Four and half hour setups, no good.

Also this is a hard eleven hour drive.  I am done with this.

For you newbies, aspire for the show, and make lots of moola.

Heading home to Florida tomorrow.  Canceled my two shows for October.

So I  guess I did pretty good in Kansa City.

This is the 8th year for this show. I had done the show in its inaugural year and this is the first time I've been invited back. The show was another in a long line of shows pushed back from their customary date (July) to later in the year (Oct) as a result of COVID. Did people turn out? Yes, a steady stream of people flowed through the show nearly all day Sat and Sun. This show seemed to have a greater representation of the younger crowd 30 - 40ish with baby strollers and one or more babies in them, as-well-as lots of dogs! There were a fair amount of the older demographic as well. The show was held in Denver's Cheesman Park which was a great location for a show and the Oct weather was perfect. Liz Gore King (of the Rio Grande Balloon Fiesta Show dynasty) did an excellent job of organizing this show ad banners were evident on the street which may have captured some passing traffic. Amenities included only water and morning coffee. Artists parked at an off-site location and were shuttled to the show. I'm always concerned that I'll be left behind or too late for the shuttle but hours for the shuttle were ample and they were always there! Most booths located in the park had ample storage behind and booths were laid out in such a way that there was little congestion for the crowd. Several food trucks were there which is a good way to keep the crowd in attendance! Although there were lots of people at the show sales for me were off from the first time I participated and were slow in coming. 

Roughly one billion people use Instagram every month, making it one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. But in an age of fast-paced trends, ten-second videos, and virtual realities, it can be hard to see where tangible works of art can fit in.

Your art has the potential to disrupt the noise of social media and connect with people in unique ways. ACT Insurance has gathered their top 10 tips for small business creatives to reach new customers and grow their presence on Instagram.

1. Set Up A Business Account

Before you can start conquering the Instagram algorithm, you will need to make sure you are set up with a business account. This helps you have access to certain insights and analytics a normal account would not offer, as well as access to the paid ads feature. 

Once your account is set up, you will want to make sure your name matches your business name. You can set your profile photo as your logo to make your page more recognizable. Be sure to have relevant information in your bio. Specify what you do, add some branded hashtags, put your location, and be sure to have a link to your website.

2. Build A Content Calendar

One of the trickiest parts of running a social media page for your business is figuring out what to post. Start by brainstorming a list of ideas, like tutorials, sneak peeks, product photos, quotes relevant to your brand, photos of you at events, customer reviews, and more. You will then want to organize your content ideas into a calendar.

Having a schedule helps you know what content you need to prepare for your upcoming posts. Try mixing up the types of posts you are doing. Do a video one day, a product photo the next, then a quote, and so on. This helps break up your content to keep your audience engaged. You can have fun with your feed by designing a personal brand—like making a pattern with colors or content type to give your page a unique feel.

3. Research Hashtags

Having relevant hashtags in your posts is key to getting recognized by new customers. You know your target audience best, so you know what other interests they may have that could lead them to see your posts. Capitalize on those categories through hashtags.

To help you tag your posts quicker, you can keep a list of relevant hashtags on hand. These tags can be for daily post types, like #StudioSunday or #FeatureFriday; community based tags, like #CreativesOfInstagram or #NationalArtistsSociety; and tags for specific events you are attending. You can make your hashtags a focal point in your caption, or hide them in the comments section. 

4.Use A Scheduling Tool

Running your Instagram page can take a lot of work. You may not be able to set aside time every day to post—after all, your main focus is going to be on creating your products. This is where a scheduling tool, like Hootsuite or Planoly, can come in handy. We recommend using Later for all of the features offered and ease of use. 

Take some time every few weeks to plan out an upcoming series of content, spanning as far in advance as you can manage. Once you have your images and captions ready, upload them into these platforms and schedule them to be automatically posted for you. Look at your page’s analytics to see what time your followers are most likely to be online. This will be the most ideal time to post so you can maximize your engagement.

5. Create Video Content With Reels

In a recent announcement, Instagram said the platform would be shifting to becoming a video platform. What does this mean for you? Now is the time to get into creating video content for your page. Reels, Stories, in-feed videos, IGTV, and Live videos should be a huge area of focus for you. 

Reels is the newest, and arguably the most popular, video content on Instagram. You can create a Reel directly in the app, or shoot, edit, and upload in another platform and upload the finished product to Reels. You can turn an old Story you save into a Reel, demonstrate a tutorial, film a timelapse of you creating a piece, and more.

6. Add Alt Tags To Posts

Something often overlooked when uploading a post is the alt text. This is a small descriptive paragraph that explains what the photo is so reading devices can recite it to the visually imparied. Not only does this help your posts be more accessible, Instagram reads this information to make them more searchable.

You can also make your posts more discoverable by adding the location of the photo. If someone searches a specific location, your post can appear in the list of tagged images, broadening your reach. 

7. Go Live With Other Creatives

Do you have any friends or acquaintances who are creatives? Plan to go Live together on Instagram. By going Live with other creatives, you can reach a broader audience and tap into their followers as potential customers. This is a great opportunity to host a virtual class or tutorial, and share some of your products.

You can promote your Live in the days leading up to it with a post on your page and daily posts on your Stories. You can even add a countdown sticker to your Stories where users can “subscribe” to it and be notified when the countdown ends. After the Live, you can save it to your page as an IGTV post so others can watch it later on. Plan to go Live based on when your analytics tell you most of your followers are active to reach the most users possible.

8. Make Interactive Stories

One of the best ways to connect with your followers daily is to post on Instagram Stories. It can be hard to come up with perfectly curated daily posts or feel like you are always trying to sell to your followers. Stories allow you to take a more personal and relatable approach to your content.

Give viewers a behind the scenes look into your everyday life as an artist. Try using some of the interactive stickers, like polls or submission boxes, to better interact with viewers. If you ever highlight a unique event or experience, or do a series of Q&A’s in your Stories, you can keep this content on your page with Highlights.

9. Start Conversations On Posts

Getting comments on a post is a good indicator that your followers like your content. It also helps to push your post out to more users. By engaging with the comments on your post, you are fostering valuable relationships with your followers and inviting new users to participate and follow your page. 

To help increase your engagement with comments, you can try asking questions in your captions, or share a compelling story that invites readers to chime in. Do your best to reply to comments, even the negative ones. This shows you care about your followers and your business. If you don’t get many comments, you can try commenting on other artist’s posts or your follower’s posts. 

10. Promote Your Work

It can sometimes be frustrating to grow your Instagram following organically. It is not always easy to get sales on social media. If you feel like you need some help getting your content seen, you can try boosting your posts or buying ad space on Instagram.

Advertising on Instagram allows you to pick your budget, timeline, placement, content, audience, and more. You can boost an existing post for a small fee you choose to get onto new users' newsfeeds. You might want to build an ad for your website that pops up in Stories. You can even utilize the shopping feature on posts so viewers can buy directly from a post. Don’t be afraid to give your content a little extra boost to get discovered.

Protect Yourself When Selling Online

Trying to manage a social media presence for your business is a lot of work—it can be easy to overlook the risks that come with online selling. Afterall, your main focus should be on running your business and not on insurance claims. With ACT Insurance, you can be confident in your coverage and continue doing what you love, worry-free. 

We hope these 10 tips help you grow your business on Instagram. Do you have a tip or trick for running your social media? Share it with us in the comments below!

This show review was recently uploaded to our sister website ArtShowReviews.com. I'm copying most of it here because it is an excellent example of the kind of review every show director hopes to see about their event, an aspirational review. Do you agree? 

Long's Park Art Festival, Lancaster, PA, Sept. 3-5, 2021

Medium: 2D mixed media
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show: 2020
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show: * 2-3 times
Number of Years You have been doing Art Fairs overall: Forever...
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) - 5 (great) Location: 5 (great) Facilities: 5 (great) Ease of Participating: 5 (great) Sales: 4 Overall: 5 (great) Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Good

Good Things about this Art Fair: The people who run this show are so efficient and pleasant to deal with, it's unbelievable. They advertise widely and it pays off, the park is always crowded. The set up is incredibly easy, you have all day if you need it. The have 'ambassadors' that will booth sit and they check on you regularly. They also provide breakfast meals and a dinner, what more can you ask? What could this Art Fair have done better?: They could make the entrance from the highway a little more obvious, you can easily drive by when there is traffic, but it's easy to turn around, not a big deal really.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show: I would highly recommend this show. They can't provide sales, that's up to you but they certainly provide everything else.

This is a tough blog to write.  I want to be fair and give an accurate account of the show.

For me, a veteran of 45 years of shows, this is my last time there.

Once upon a time this was the best show to do in Michigan.  Better than Ann Arbor.

Now it is way past those glory days.

When you allow handmade puppets 101 into your show along with another 100 sub-crafty booths it is time to say aloha.

I could not even do a thousand a day for three days, that is my minemum that I will put up with at a show. I do not care whether you are an artist or a crafter if you cannot do $1K a day, time to move on--your expenses and time are worth more than that.  Just saying.

OK. I will get off the soapbox and give a good report.  I always give a lot of super info that is really helpful to newbies, I give way more than you see in any blog out there.

Once upon a time in America there was a lovely early fall art festival held in a beautiful wooded city park with a magical running stream, replete with diving mallards.

People flooded the park by the thousands.  They rejoiced in the sounds of marching bands, mixed with lively stage dancers.  The smells of popcorn and smoking sausages wafted thru the air. OK there were lots of white tents there.  Some were full of paintings, others were covered with photos from all over the world.  You could find pottery in every color of the rainbow.  Some were filled with wonderful crafted wooden furniture, jewelry ran the gamut from bronze to precious jewels.

There were also tents filled with puzzles made out of wood.  There were handmade clothing items, crafty puppets.

The people flitted along like fireflies. They would quickly flit in and out, maybe give a shout, to the artist, "nice work!".  Then on to the next booth.

To me, they would chuckle, tell me that I had a great sense of humor, then move on.  No moola for Nels.

They called the show Arts and Apples.

It is held on the second week in September.  A three day show with setup the day before and the morning of the first show day.

It's held in Rochester,Michigan. A very affluent city north of Detroit. Oakland County.  Lots of moola here.

It is run by the Paint Center of Arts. It is a fundraiser for them.  They are going to get 300 booths in their show come hell or high water. They charge a very hefty booth fee (look it up on Zapp, you gotta do a little work for all the gold I give you).

Used to be, the 300 booths, were all great artists,It was an honor to be juried in.

Not that way now.

There were empty spaces all thru the show.  Who needs a waitlist.

Many artists made serious money here.

But many artists with outstanding work died here.

The crowd was not buying art.  They bought basic art 101. I know, there are exceptions.  A few great artists sold their work.  Notice I said, "a few."

I was pretty much ignored. Friday was a debacle.  Did $300.

Saturday the crowds were out in serious numbers, shoulder to shoulder.

Did not help me one bit.  Did not even come close to a thousand.

The judge came into my booth, took one look at an image, then whirled out right.  Some judge.

BTW. Besides doing shows for 45 years, I have been consistent in getting into at least three biggies in the biz every year.  These are always $10K plus.

I also do at least 20 other shows where you grind it out to make a living.

Also, this October, I turn 76.

The setup at shows takes a serious toll on your body as you age.  Trust me, I feel it.  Most shows, after setup, I take a hour nap to recoup.

OK.  Back to the show.

Here is my recommendation about whether you should do the show.

They buy basic, traditional, conservative items, mostly Lowend.  If you got that, then try it.

For me, it is aloha to this show.  Did my first art show by a waterfall in Hawaii in 1974.

If you want to see my work go to nelsjohnsonphotographer.com.

OK.  Now a Tequila Report.

This is when I tell about finding an exceptional place to eat at.

I have written about this place in previous blogs, but this format is not setup that easy to find those previous blogs.  Plus, most of you would never take the time to search.

So enjoy this.

The restaurant I am going to write about, in my humble estimation after traveling the Midwest for more than 35 years, is one of the best deals ever anywhere.

It's called Luckys Prime Time Restaurant.  They are on Walton Road about one mile west of downtown Rochester. Use Googlemaps.

I have eaten here for more than six years. They are the berries.

You want a good filet.

How about four two ounce filets, cooked to temperature. With a salad or soup plus a loaf of bread. Then pick a side, like a baked potato or sweet potato, or sautéed spinach,or five other choices.

What is the price? Try $19.99. Yep.

Want fresh fish.  Try baked grouper with crabmeat in a lobster cream sauce with all that other stuff for $18.99. I got a grouper sandwich for 9.95. Cheaper and larger portion than anywhere in Florida.

Anything here is delicious and well priced in big portions.  Three lobster tails for $30.99, no way. Way.

You gotta go to this place, it is the ultimate deal.

Well, this is my report.  I call them as I see them.

This could be a good show for a lot of you

On to Kansas City Plaza next, this is a real Biggie!.

It's with a heavy heart and much sadness I want to let my friends know that my wife Mary passed away Friday morning peacefully in her sleep. She had been dealing with chronic pain for years and she's finally at rest. We would have been married 34 years next month and loved each other very much, no less now than we did at the beginning of our relationship. We met while I was doing the Three Rivers Art Festival in Pittsburgh and it was love at first sight. I still remember her in the long purple dress she was wearing that day, sitting on the wall across from my booth by what was then the Hilton. She bought a small print from me in order to give me a check that had her phone number on it, hoping I would call her. As it turned out she had second thoughts and sent a girlfriend back with the print to retrieve her check. Because I was just as taken with her, I told her girlfriend she would have to come back in person for her check. We went out for the first time the next day and were married four months later.

Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100

Well, here come the belly dancers--it must be the Woodland Park show.

More about them later.

I have done this show about eight times.

It is held in a wooded park on the edge of downtown Lexington.

Last year it was cancelled because of COVID.

This year they  advertised that it would be a small show of 125 artists.

Then they changed their minds and it ended up being almost 250 artists.

The show is held on the third weekend of August. It is run by the Lexington Art League. You can setup on Friday afternoon. Vehicles can drive into the park right up to your space.

It is always hot, but there is lots of shade. Their are a few scab shows surrounding the park.

Everybody has ample storage space in the rear and room side to side.

This year the crowds were more sparse. COVID has been rampant in the Lexington area and it affected attendance.  Lots of masked patrons.

Sales were more on the Lowend side with very few high end framed pieces going out the door.

Sunday was a better day for sales, for me, then Saturday.

BTW, I sell color photos in the price range of $33-$1100.  This show, all my sales were in the $33-$175 range.  They were few and far in between,

Lexington is a prosperous town with lots of horse-related jobs and the State University is there.  Lots of young people, but with little disposable income.

They buy very traditional here and they love the crafts. That said, I saw lots of artists making money here. Many, who I-talked to, we're doing their first show post-COVID.

It is a pleasent show to do.  Mellow and leisurely setup and a smooth teardown.

They have great food and beer vendors here.  The people flock to them in greater numbers than to artists.

Usually they have a nice artist breakfest on Sunday and then they announce the awards.

This year neither happened.  The organization claimed they were too strapped for cash and volunteer help.  Yet they doubled the size of the show, go figure.

Lexington is a beautiful southern city.  Great choices of restaurants and retail.

Plenty of hotels out by I-75 to choose from.

Overall, it is a nice show to do in August.

Now, about the belly dancers.

A local dance studio, who specializes in belly dancing, always puts on a one hour show on Sunday.  The music starts slow and then builds do a feverish frenzy at end. The patrons love it.  I love it but it kills sales for most of us when they are on.

Belly dancers in Kentucky-- who would have thought?

Next up for me is the Arts and Apples show inRochester, Michigan.  This was at one time, one of the best selling shows in the state, many artists did better here then Ann Arbor.  It is September 10-12. Two weekends later, I finish my summer at a biggie--Kansas City Plaza, then return home to Florida.

Later, Gators!