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I have a question regarding the entries that are shown in the Art Fair Calendar and it relates to where the info comes from, what causes it to be shown, etc.

Specifically, Huffman Productions has four shows in the Midwest and have been fairly highly rated in the past. They have Omaha, Shakopee, Chicago and Sioux Falls. At the present time, one of the shows (Sioux Falls) is scheduled for Oct. and the other three in Nov. All the shows are called "Autumn Festival - An Arts and Crafts Affair".

My question is what would cause the Shakopee, MN show in Nov. to be listed in the calendar but none of the other three are? Does that mean it is vastly better or larger than the others? I'm especially interested in why the show in Ohaha on Nov. 4,5, 6 & 7 would not be listed.

I suppose all this is pretty trivial on my part. However, if a show isn't listed because there is some problem or negative aspect to it, then maybe it's a show I would want to avoid. I just don't know how to intrepret this and would appreciate knowing a little more about the process.

Thanks to anyone who can help with this.

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Appleton Art in the Park has a well established show and it should ,,, this was the 50th annual event. This years show was marked with some new features. But not exactly what the organizers were planning. Art in the Park ended up being "Art in the Street, surrounding the Park." Because of high amounts of rain, the show needed to move the event off the grass. On Friday, we received an important email from Art in the Park, explaining the at the entire show could not use the park. I am sure they had to scramble to figure our a new layout for all the artists.

Not knowing what to expect, I decided to arrive extra early on Sunday morning to the show. I got there at 5:30 a.m. About half the artists had put tents up on Saturday evening. To my surprise there were a number of artists already working on their booths, at 5:30 a.m. The park had standing water in spots and much of the grass was "spongy". There is no way they could have had the show in the park.

I found my booth location on the street. I was able to drive my car right up to my spot and unload. (Always a good thing) The layout was arranged on four streets that formed a square, around the park. This resulted in a very good traffic flow for shoppers.

By 8:30, I was all set up and ready to go. And just in time, as the crowds started to show up. I was not sure how the flow of traffic was going to develop. But quickly it turned into a counter-clockwise flow.

Most shoppers and artists liked the new arrangement. Although it was quickly put together. I and many others prefer being on the street, to being on grass. My only suggestion would be to move the food vendors to one of the side streets, instead of being part of the regular flow around the park.

The weather was perfect. My neighbors were happy. My sales were up, from last year: 24%. Once and a while the art-gods do pay attention. Thanks to the Appleton Art Center for pulling the show together. It was an exciting way to mark you 50th Anniversary.

So the weather forecast for Friday was for scattered thunderstorms, high winds and a heat index of 100 degrees, but who wouldn't want to be in Ann Arbor? This was my 32nd annual trip to view the art and see friends. I arrived at 10:30 am and left at 9 pm with much disappointment because I had run out of time to do both. Since my husband I no longer participate in art fairs this is my annual chance to see old friends and their new work and to be stopped in my tracks at the new artists who show up for this annual blockbuster of an art fair.

Was I alone on the streets? Hardly. It was not body to body as in some times past but the parking lots were full and the shuttles had full seats. A great place to start is at the intersection of North University and State Street, really the heart of the event. From there you can explore the State Street show and the Guild show on State as well head right to the Street Fair.

My mission:

• buy art
• see friends
• introduce Kristina Jones from the Great Lakes Art Fair to artists
• take photos for my websites and pass out cards for these sites
• Around 3 pm meet up with Jon Witz from Arts, Beats & Eats to visit even more artists

Too many jobs!

This famous painter from the Des Moines area finds other ways to get through the hot day






Mixed Media artist Rick Hall from Arkansas






My favorite story of the day: Michigan Jewelers Charlene and Helmut Goral were celebrating their 40th appearance at the show as well as their 40th wedding anniversary. In 1970 after making $800 in Ann Arbor they went back to E. Lansing with all their earnings and decided to use their colossal windfall to have a party to remember so they got married. They said many of their friends were barefoot and wore flowers in their hair.

Jon Hecker (who also had celebrated his first art fair by getting married, about 20 years ago) shows off a new body of work created by his partner, Patricia.



Joachim Knill (photographer/painter/mixed media) and winner of Best of Show at Cherry Creek this year exhibiting at the Street Fair. Joachim is just one of a bunch of artists at the show who have moved to Hannibal, MO, where property is cheap. He told me he just bought the jail for a new gallery.




And you know there were the happy shoppers, laden with goods!

Unfortunately a storm came through around 6 pm, effectively closing the show. I took shelter with my friend Larry Humphrey in his very tall and very strong Craft Hut whose legs had been drilled into the pavement. As we stood in the booth we could hear the blowing wind and the rain pounding the canopy outside you could hear crashing. After a while it got to be too much for me and I ran for an indoor shelter. Larry survived well but not his neighbors, the potters from the Yourist Gallery.

After an interval I knew I had to find Nels Johnson but his space was almost a mile away (it seemed) so I took a cab from South U. to Main Street and his booth was closed. I investigated at the fine restaurant behind the booth (I knew he would have made friends there) and they told he had stopped for a drink, grabbed his backpack and departed because of the subsequent tornado warnings. Luckily his booth helper (or what photographer Don Ament calls his "booth bitch") was nearby and was an old friend of mine from Detroit days, Sharon Pellar, so I had company for dinner.

Sadly I had to leave without accomplishing all my missions and have to wait another year for this most perfect rite of summer.

Hello again to all my old friends -- it was so great seeing you: David Bigelow, Jim Eaton, Ray Hartl, Shary Brown, Larry Oliverson, Mamie Joe, Bonnie Blandford, Jan Kaulins, Toni & Jay Mann, Berry Davis & Colette Fortin, Beth Crowder, Leslie Emery, Chia Haruta, Ron & Judy Lederer, Kathleen Weir-West, Candiss Cole, Lynn Corrie, Angelo Fico, Andy Shea, Howard Silverblatt, Skip & Linda Steinworth, Larry Hughes, Rishar Miranda, Skip Ennis, Scott Hartley and so many more. Sorry I missed you Kathy Eaton, let's get together, and Barry Bernstein, but I heard a strange story about you...misbehaving again!

Food report: lunch at Jamaican diner on Thayer near the Bell Tower; dinner at Chinese restaurant on Main...neither done at leisure, because honestly eating takes a back seat to the art fair -- I needed to be on the streets. Will I see you there next year?

October 15-17
Rock Financial Showplace
Novi, Michigan
200 artists
Deadline: August 2

• Art fairs are always looking for ways to enhance the event both for artists and the attending public. This Fall the show will open on Friday at 12 pm and close at 8 pm. We will be returning with the hugely successful Friday Ladies Night Out promotion that drew over 2000 women to line up for entry on Friday! It also allows for some Friday setup for artists.
• Robust marketing campaign planned with media partners
  

hauling home the goods!

Fiber artist Sharon Snoeyink

• custom Great Lakes Art Fair discount coupons
• e-mail blast content
• free tickets, postcards and other collateral materials to distribute to their patrons
• drive up to your booth to unload and load
• artist hospitality area and reception
• artist gallery
  

www.GreatLakesArtFair.com/artistapply.html

We use for our online applications.

If it's 100 plus degrees, it's time for the Boulder show on Pearl Street. The show has a nostalgic draw for me, 7 years ago it was my first time to hang my stuff on the tent walls.Man, how much I have learned in those few years.

The show itself varies in success according to the weather.If it's hot sales are not. While we did OK this year ($3K/2 days) last year was cooler (over $5K), but the average for us is somewhere in between.No large work was sold, and I didn't see anything go walking past in the arms of the crowd. The quality of the show varies as well, this year I was next to a wonderful German woman, whose work was hand painted ceramic gothic birdhouses.There were more than a few newspaper tents filling up empty spaces,most of the veterns know to pay the additional $100 for a preferred spot on the mall.The asphalt east and west had no shade and it seemed to be primarily the newbies down there.

The show has gone thru 3 directors over the last three years, hard to tell what the show's direction will be (fine art seems to be slipping a bit) so we shall see.The crowd is tourist, not necessarily art buying but it sure feels good to see the mall packed with people. There were a few of the heavy hitters, but oddly enough they were all right next to each other.Two landscapers with 10X20 booths in direct competition, and two that show indegenous peoples in exotic locations were side by side.Whoulda driven me nuts.

The best part for me was the people.Boulder is known for being a bit on the left side of liberal, and their tolerance for street people means there is never a dull moment on the mall.In addition to the flaming juggelers,wandering troubadors and eccentric balloon vendors, this years prize for odd goes to the Marty Feldman look alike in the fuscia unitard riding a unicycle.His schtick was to quietly sneak up from behind an unsuspecting tourist and startle them.He would then ride off, a cooting and flapping his arms while Aunt Edna from Omaha wished she hadn't agreed to try Dr. Leary's "special sugar cube" back in the 60's.

The best part for me was being able to hang with my boys a bit.Stevo is my partner in the show circuit, and Wonderboy (Jon) came down from the mountains for the day. Like I said, time sure does fly.Last I looked these kids were playing in the sandbox. Now young men, they have helped each other thru some difficult times.Brothers in every sense. BTW: Stevo is spoken for but Jon (Mountain biker,fly fisherman,musician and gainfully employed carpenter is currently available)

I was pleasantly surprised to see a good friend,Texas Steve Hunsicker as a neighbor. Steve does some high end 3 dimension work,just wonderful stuff but he is one of the gems on the circuit. Met him a few years ago in a mountain show that pretty much sucked. No sales, rain every hour on the hour. There was plenty of bitching and moaning, but this guy was simply a joy to get to know. Steve will admit the shows can be tough, but we are there by choice and despite our best efforts to pick the good ones,weather, the economy,bad luck can all conspire to make things painful.He taught me being a good neighbor means being a good person.We also have a choice to be miserable, but his is always to make the best of things.Love the guy.

So we traded war stories, and the conversation went to reading body language.I think I am pretty good at this. Woman in the tent, man with the stroller.No way is she getting to buy anything.Man in the tent, woman with the stroller.Same thing. Guy with hands in pockets.Nope.Hand on chin, finger aside the nose.Something's cooking.Full shoulders square to a piece with hands on hips,good sign.A half turn, nope. Not gonna happen. So, to show Texas my expertise I "read" the people in the booth for him."See the guy in the black T? Just a looker.Too young, and has one hand in his pocket.No way will he buy". Yep. I sure know what I'm doing.Then Stevo yells me over" Pops: This guy (black T shirt) just bought a large canvas and wants to talk to you about the work". Yep. I'm still learning.

September 18 and September 19

• $3,000 in cash awards and purchase prizes
• a complimentary breakfast on Saturday morning and a dinner party for the artists on Saturday
  evening after the close of the fair
• Overnight security on Saturday night, which includes conveniently located, locked storage space
• booth sitters are available as needed over the weekend
  

This is an annual event held primarily on the Pearl Street pedestrian mall in Boulder, Colorado. This was my second festival ever and the second in Boulder. Set-up & tear-down were a dream for me because I was on the non-mall end of Pearl Street where I could just drive in next to my booth without having to jockey around anyone else. I expect folks who were on the mall had to maneuver around trees, trash cans and each other, making things slightly more complicated. And easy in and out was needed with temperatures around 104 degrees on Saturday. I had been warned that it could be hot, but even us locals were on the brink of heat stroke. (A quick note to the ladies - it does matter what type of underwear you put on in that kind of heat.) Management came around with juice and scones in the AM, and made just 1 trip daily for water. I had to call for a booth sitter on Saturday as the one who said she would be by in an hour or two for a potty break showed up 2 hours late. The Sunday booth sitter was much better. As for the potty, there were public restrooms down at the east end of the mall, but down on the west end where I was there was one lone porta-potty. I was glad that I had brought disinfecting hand wipes and my own roll of TP. And thanks to my toilet maneuvering I discovered that I can do yoga.

Saturday was a long day. Set-up started at 6AM and the show went to 8PM, and we were advised to remove our work for the night, so I rolled out of town at about 9PM. Sunday was better - I got in around 9AM, show started at 10AM and went until 5PM. I managed to tear down and get on the road by 6:30.

Sales were mixed. I had only one sale and that came on Sunday afternoon. The metal artist across from me was selling like hotcakes, but the potter and the digital artist adjacent to me had poor sales as well. The potter just barely made her booth fee and the digital artist only had a couple of sales as well. The three of us are all local, and it seemed to us that shoppers had a "I can always catch up with you later" attitude towards the local artists and were more likely to buy form the out-of-towners. And the mall booths are the prime real estate at this show. You can't request a booth location and if you get stuck at either of the far ends your traffic is way down.

Will I go back to this show? Not likely. Despite the reasonable booth fee, the hours, heat and lack of sales will keep me away next year, and it sounded like my neighbor wasn't interested in coming back, either. The late show hours were good for the metal artist (big, heavy things people bought just before going home), but otherwise the dinner crowd was just that - interested in the bars and restaurants. I would recommend this show to artists from outside Colorado with mid-range work only.