| Disasters do happen |
[Feb. 21st, 2008|04:38 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Beach Boys | ] |
Well, the arts and crafts festival that I am director of had an interesting beginning last October. The event runs Thursday thru Saturday. Set up days are Tuesday and Wednesday. Our Wednesday was a bit overcast, and even had a tornado warning in the afternoon. That was nothing to compare to the surprise that came through about 10 pm. A straight line wind, estimated at 70 mph., hit the site. One very large tent was totally knocked over. Four other tents were damaged. And we had about three inches of rain. Baaad!
The press was contacted and told we would be closed Thursday, but open Friday and Saturday. At daylight, the mess looked even worse than the night before. Porta-potties turned over, individual tents collapsed, - a real mess. However, my tent company was called, and had people there by 8:30 am to start repairing the mess. Porta-pottie people were there by 9 am and had every unit upright again in about 30 minutes. The site electrician, who had cut power the evening before due to downed power lines, was there early, and as each tent was re-set, the electrical crew went in and reset up poles, put new lightbulbs in where broken ones had been.
And the most magical experience of all: the wonderful cooperation between all of the exhibitors. After I explained to the group that we would be closed on Thursday and re-open on Friday, everyone jumped in and helped those that needed help. And this went on all day long! Of course, the weather cooperated, too. It was sunny and slightly warm, not hot. Just beautiful weather.
We did loose a few exhibitors. Two potters lost everything; they were in the tent that collapsed. One jewelry person lost her display due to a rip in a tent top that allowed water to drown her booth. A couple of outside exhibitors had their tents blown over, and they chose to leave. But, out of 250 exhibitors, only 6 left.
I called apress conference for 11 am, and did individual interviews with three TV stations, and three print media. After running our picitures and my interviews on the Thursday night news spots, on Fridy we had a record crowd. Although the food vendors could not make up for lost revenue for Thursday, everyone on Friday and Saturday had great sales. The ground was still a bit soggy, especially inside the big tents where the gound could not dry out fast. But, all together, the week-end turned into a great success.
So, now I've taken on one more year as director (this is a volunteer job!). This will be the 40th year of our event, and I really would like to have a few special things happen to draw people and exhibitors to our fantastic festival. I already have an almost-full staff, and things are already starting to happen. About 60 percent of the exhibitors re-applied for this year already.
We'll see how this year goes. I'll be posting more info as we go along. |
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| Festival is finally getting going |
[Jul. 8th, 2007|01:29 pm] |
Well, there as been much upheaval in my life in the past two months, and the Festival has been just setting. However, things are going much better now, and I hope to get more activity happening at our place very soon.
First of all, my brother died, not unexpected, but sooner than expected. He was the last of my birth family, and I miss him greatly. And that came two weeks after having a bad annual mammogram. Two biopsies, two ultrasounds and two MRIs later, I still don't know exactly what is going on. But, for right now, the problem is stable. (I'm working on it...just noting much to say about it.)
My exhibitor's chair got sick and has had to drop back in her participation. However, I'm getting two other people to come in and help with the office work. One may be able to take over the exhibitor chair job (I hope!!!) and keep the ball rolling. The biggest job for the exhibitors chair is in August (assign booth spaces), September (get lists ready to publish in programs), and Occtober (Handle exhibitors when they check in and keep them happy and productive).
The Festival launched a Tee Shirt Design contest last week. It should prove to be very interesting! Submitted designs must be based on a famous dead artist's famous work - keeping color, design, over-all theme, but personallizing it to our festival. (Examples I used in pubs are Monet's "Waterlillies" with our tents setting on the lilliepads, or Michaelangelo's "David" with a cell phone to his ear and packages covering the anatomy. I personally like the idea of a Calder mobile with tents and gift bags and people eating food as the mobile units.)
We'll see. We are getting a respectable number of applications from our website (www.bellavistafestival,org) that my sponsoring organization thought was useless. I'm happy!
More as it develops. |
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| Getting the balance of vendors for festival |
[May. 16th, 2007|06:36 pm] |
Our Festival is still five months away, and we are getting in applications most every day. Two of the biggest problems with arts and crafts vendors is getting good ones, and getting a good balance to be in the event.
"Good" vendors are the type with articles to sell that are well made, well designed, well painted, and are of interest to the current buying market. These vendors watch the markets and make items that are currently in vogue in home decorating, yard art, or personal adornment.
By balance, I mean not too many of any one particular area. Most of our fine arts artists are so very different that they are not a problem. But we have jewelry makers coming out the wazoo this year. I love good, beautiful hand-made jewelry. Jewelry that is NOT like everyone else has made. But there seems to be a limit to the number of diferent kinds of jewelry one can get applications from. A couple of the Spring arts and crafts festivals around here had waaay too many jewelry sellers. And most of it was NOT hand-made. Well, maybe it was, but in China or Mexico, -definitely not by the person selling the pieces. Another area I'm getting lots of applications from is scroll saw art--y'know, the little puzzles that are in the shape of animals, the crosses to hang on the wall, the openwork clocks. Some are very, very nice. Some are not.
Wonder what will be the next big influx of articles? Anything "green" - items made from recycled goods? Who knows? I'm anxiously awaiting to see what comes in. |
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| It's a lonely world . . . |
[Mar. 26th, 2007|12:26 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | creative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | quite, thank goodness | ] |
Well, the Festival scene is going slow right now. It is the time when applications are coming in and being juried. And contracts for on-site services are being finalized. Things such as porta-potties, tents, hay bales, and insurance carriers are being lined up. It seems like a loooong way until October. Now. But, come August, I'll wonder why I don't have enough time. I am taking advantage of this lull in activity to research other festivals and look at possible new things for next year. You can never start too soon in making decisions for the next year, I have decided. |
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| Applications coming in |
[Mar. 4th, 2007|08:14 pm] |
There has been a flurry of new applications coming into th Festival office in the past three weeks. Several said they learned of our Festival from one of our Exhibitors. How very gratifying that is! We hope all of our exhibitors and food vendors have a good experience with us. Other than abysmal weather for two days last fall, we usually have a really great time. And last year was a very pretty Festival--pennants on the big tents, outside exhibitors with great demonstrations and many demonstrations inside the tents. Music from the sound stage added to the enjoyment, especially to the guys who had rather sit in the music area and let their gals shop. We like that, too. Our first round of acceptances have gone out to the new applicants. We will be doing more jurying and accepting those we feel will add to our Festival as the months go by. Our new website has an application on it, and I hope we receive apps from that source. See: bellavistafestival.org |
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| And we're off . . . |
[Feb. 4th, 2007|01:12 pm] |
The Bella Vista Arts & Crafts Festival is well into the "putting it all together again" stage. Budget for this, our 39th annual festival, is almost complete. It continues to amaze me how much the costs of "stuff" goes up each year. And yet, there are a few things the event simply cannot do without . . . tents, portapotties, insurance, and a few others.
So many of last year's exhibitors filed apps for this year that we are over half full already. That is really great. However, we are getting about 10 app requests per week, and about five apps received each week, so we must get the jury committee set up right away to get the new exhibitors on board.
I'm trying to get a festival web site up and running. No, I'm not doing the work (my computer skills are limited) but a friend is doing it. Should be up for viewing...including an on-line application process...in a couple of weeks.
This area had a terriffic ice storm two weeks ago (and five inches of snow on Thursday) that has really damaged many trees. I went by the Festival site last week, and we lost one live tree, one dead tree, and one huge limb from a gigantic old oak tree that is just behind the site office building. Luckily, there was no damage to the building. Now I've got to find someone who wants wood bad enough to come and remove the mess.
I'm trying to put together some new things for the festival this year. I am a firm believer in keeping updated and fresh with appearances. Many, many people return each year to our event, and I want them to be pleasantly surprised at the improvements each year.
That's it for now. |
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| Festival over or this year |
[Nov. 26th, 2006|09:07 pm] |
It seems like it has been forever, already, but our Festival was Oct. 19-21, and I'm just about finished with all the "after" work. You know, after the Festival you must put things away. After the Festival you must pay al the bills. After the Festival you must have an evaluation session. After this Festival, you start plans for next year's Festival.
It was great. hardly any problems. We were a few people shy of full, but not more than 7 or 8 out of a possible 280. And it was really pretty. Had some great exhibitors, some really nifty new things, and everyone was enjoying themselves.
At least they were when it was not freezing cold and winds howling around. that happened for two days. The second day the weather was simply great. Had big crowds, lolts of sales. Good day.
Plans are underway for next year. Let's start all over! |
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| Only seven weeks to go! |
[Aug. 24th, 2006|10:03 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
Festival is coming LOTS quicker than I would like. Then, again, maybe not. It is actually seven and a half weeks away, but the tents start to go up October 9. Then the now-deserted field of weeds starts to look like something is going to happen. And is it ever. In just one and a half short weeks from the tent raising, the grounds will be transformed into a wonderful setting for exhibitors to display their personally made wares, and food vendors to heat up those pots and get the wonderful fragrances wafting out, just calling the tastebuds to try that fried rice, or the crawfish ettouffee, or the hot funnel cakes. And the Fine Arts Market tent will host many fine artists who will be showing their talent in many areas - watercolor, pastel, potters, acrylic, oils, photography, weaving, fine jewelry, pewter sculptures....such great fun. All 300-plus exhibitors will have wonderful items.
Although we still have about 15 openings, things are progressing well. We have some wonderful new exhibitors this year, with really outstanding items offered for sale.
In spite of the high gas prices and dip in the economy, I'm still optimistic that "they will come" and buy gifts, both personal and holiday giving gifts. We have some of the most wonderful things, and the prices are simply very reasonable for artist-made goods, both fine arts and crafts. And our things are definitely NOT items you will find in Big Box stores (Gee, I really hate that term!). Our exhibitors are required to personally make or embellish their goods (I really don't expect exhibitors to make the tee or sweat shirts they embroider or tie dye or silk screen or embellish with lace and buttons).
I'm getting anxious. I love to see just what all will be there in the booths. And getting to talk with the makers and artists is just really great. Makes the items seem that much more special.
Hope you get a chance to get out this fall and shop, buy fresh produce....just get out and see the world in it's glorious Fall coat. |
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| Back to work |
[Jul. 26th, 2006|11:55 pm] |
Well, after a week-long vacation that consisted of two family reunions back-to-back, I'm back putting a festival together.
I'm having pretty good luck at getting new people this year. I think my ads in the arts and crafts magazines are paying off. And the pictures that are being sent with applications are of some very good, very current items.
One of the things that I really have trouble getting our exhibitors and vendors to understand is that they cannot continue to make and sell the very same items for 10 years. In order to sell, you must stay current, not only with designs, but with the goods you want to sell. And selling is the name of the game. I encourage my exhibitors to try and look at magazines and crafts books and decorating magazines to see what is new and current. Then they can change designs, or color schemes, or styles of things they make so that people want to buy their "new" items for their houses, or bodies, or friends. What do you shop for when you go to Art and Craft shows? Do you keep the same ideas, or do you keep current?
Let me know. I need to tell my "old timers" what people want so they can make money at my show! |
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| Festival Plans underway |
[Jun. 21st, 2006|10:43 pm] |
It hardly seems possible that it is only four months until the Bella Vista Arts & Crafts Festival. That's the one that I'm director of. This is my third year, and it has not been like either of the prior years at all. I seem to always be running behind. There are just so many things to get done, and only so much time to do them.
Of course, if I was doing ONLY this festival, I might have more things done. But I'm always volunteering to do other things, instead of concentrating on just this one. Well, I hope that in a couple of weeks that will change, as most of my other responsibilities that I've volunteered for will have taken place. I really DO need to concentrate on the Festival, and make it a great one this year.
Last year was good, but it could be better. Several things are changing this year: our entertainment will be a Talent Contest with two levels--under 18 years of age, and over 18 years of age (and limited to singers and musicians for this first year); there will be a fine arts area, which began last year but expanded to be larger his year; and some visual enhancements to give the area a really welcoming, festive appearance. And our exhibitors have really top quality, handmade products. So, the Festival should be really great this year.
One of our biggest challenges every year is to have our exhibitors selling their own products. Really, NO buy-resell is allowed. And if we find it when the Show opens, we remove that exhibitor on the spot. There seems to be fewer shows across the US that are limiting their applicants to hand made goods. Our exhibitors always have such high praise for our show and its high standards. We hope to continue to have top quality products at the Show. |
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