Behind the Scenes
Speed Park Art Show
On the weekend of August 29-30, 2009 we visited Sellersburg, Indiana about 10 miles north of Louisville, KY. Sellersburg is a small town that combines the role of a traditional farm town and a growing suburban community of nearby Louisville. It also hosts Art at Speed Park.
Sellersburg is also next door to New Albany, IN the home of several friends of ours. My wife's high school buddy Jill lives there. Mr. and Mrs. Stock very graciously allowed us to stay at their home while at the show. On Friday evening we had an opportunity go out with them to the Bristol, a great restaurant with a view of the Ohio river and the Louisville skyline.
Then as a special treat Jill and coach Wayne Stock invited us to a casual dinner party along with their neighbors Jim and Becky King and Steve and State Senator Connie Sipes. It was a really great time of nice people, good food and pre-season football; the Chargers vs. Atlanta.
The art show is spread out in Speed Park (not a NASCAR track) which is a beautiful tree shaded grassy city park. Two days of beautiful weather allowed for a reasonably good turnout especially on Saturday between 11:00 AM and about 2:00 PM but by 3:00 the crowd fell off sharply. Sunday had an predictable slow start but by early afternoon a decent crowd showed and with them sales increased. Our neighbor Jim McGie from Tennessee sold a fantastic hand made rocking chair for over $3500 to a lucky Indiana resident with impeccable taste.
Although people showed interest in our major pieces we did not sell any. However, shoppers did like enough of the smaller pieces that our sales were reasonable. Predictably down from last year sales were above our low projection number. The “new good” these days.
The show is well managed and the committee is very efficient and cordial. Getting a big crowd is always a challenge and there is a lot of competition for weekend leisure time. I think the committee may have lost some of their corporate sponsorship and that hurt the purchase prize category and possibly the advertising budget. Several artists mentioned that they did not see any of the judges; neither did we. Awards were given out but the process was unusual, noting that most of the time judges come up and talk to the artists. The slip up in judging procedure aside putting these shows on is no small feat; its a lot of work and this small Indiana town should be proud of their accomplishment.
Strange Events In Missouri
On the morning of August 31 we were back on the road heading for Missouri. After about a seven and one half hour drive we arrived home. The next day we reloaded the truck, laundry, bookkeeping, prepared the travel trailer, hooked it up and were back on the road for Sioux City, Iowa by the morning of September 2nd.
We had traveled about 300 miles and were in the far northwestern corner of Missouri. Deciding to stop for the night we were heading for a RV park that we knew between Rock Port, MO and Brownville, NE in the Missouri river bottoms. Not one to experience premonitions I had a strange feeling about our destination: an empty sensation like something had happened to our familiar overnight staying place.
Leaving I-29 and driving west on US 136 we turned into the campground. I looked up and saw buzzards wheeling lazy circles in the pale blue sky. Down the approach road a strange animal darted across the road making a foreboding noise; a screeching or high pitched bark that sent shivers down my spine. One of the tall cottonwood trees that surrounded the park was dead and bare, a large vulture perched atop one of the highest branches.
I slowed the truck to a crawl as we came close to the small office that lay in an island between two gravel roads that formed the ingress and egress. A tattered indistinguishable flag, sun-bleached and ragged from blowing in the wind fluttered from a bent flagpole. There were unexplained holes through the flag and broken chunks torn here and there from the building. Not one camper, RV trailer, or motor home was parked in the spaces.
Coming closer to the building I saw what appeared to be a broken wooden spoke wheel with a “tube” or something protruding from a overgrown clump of ragweed and wild helianthus on the right. I thought I could see an old leather boot partially hidden in the tall grass about 15 yards away. As we slowed to see if there was any light coming from the office window I could see nothing but darkness. There was a skull and cross-bone sign scrawled on a piece of yellowing paper stuck mysteriously to the window warning people away.
I know there had been a lot of action between partisan rangers and the invading blue-coats in this area but I hardly thought that we would come upon any evidence of it. We rounded a circle drive and peered through the bug specked windshield. Across the road fifty yards or so towards the nearly mature cornfield we saw what looked to be about 20 men on horseback riding hard trailed by a cloud of dust. Although we couldn't make out much; each one was dressed differently, some with rifles, others carrying several six-guns. We took them for Confederates probably on patrol still protecting their territory after all these years. Needless to say we did not stay at this KOA campground.
Twenty miles or so north now into Iowa we crossed the river and were in Nebraska City NE where we found the Victoria Acres RV Park and decided to stay the night. No sign of a skirmish at this camp where we had a good night without incident.
North Sioux City, South Dakota
This KOA was open and ready for us and the big Labor Day weekend coming up. We arrived in North Sioux on the 3rd and had to set up for the show on Friday morning then work the preview that night.
While talking to longtime show supporters Kim and Sherry about it we decided that this was going to be our 6th consecutive year at Art Splash in Sioux City, IA. We had been at the old site for 2 years and this was the 4th year at the new riverfront location.
Art Splash has a lot of volunteers, kids activities, and other events going on during the art show. I think there were about 70-75 exhibitor this year which is about the right amount for the population of an area of this size. Keeping a show proportionate to the size of the community is very important. Getting the show too big; enriching the show committee but diluting the quality is a common pitfall of art shows. Art Splash has not done that.
Even with the reported economic downturn the crowd at Art Splash was big. Sales lagged a little from last year but only modestly. The blow was softened by winning an Award of Excellence which is accompanied by a nice framed certificate, a check, and a cookie on a stick: the latter is the unique trait of the Sioux City show. No where else gives winners a confection on a stick as an award.
The show went off with no major incident and we were packed up and out before 7:30 on Sunday evening. Back in North Sioux we picked up a pizza and were at the campground in time to watch Kasey Khane win the NASCAR Atlanta 500.
Updated September 15, 2009
North Sioux City, South Dakota is at about 1100 feet of elevation above sea level. Roughly the same as the ridges around our Ozark home. Leaving North Sioux on the day after Labor Day we would be heading in a general downhill direction as we go south toward Omaha today following the Missouri River until we cross it and head uphill again in about 2 weeks.
Deciding not to endure I-29 in Iowa we jump over west to US 77 and drive straight south. I'm not sure what what they are doing to I-29. It is supposed to be a 4-lane highway but it is now split roughly evenly between 2 and 4 lanes. Both versions are equally awful akin to hundreds of miles of “rumble strips” or speed bumps in lieu of smooth pavement. Except for traffic coming towards you at 80 mph with only some orange cones separating lanes it is like driving on a sidewalk. To add to the fun when we were going north it was raining and foggy so visibility was nil. With all the mysterious construction going on maybe they are turning it into a bike path with “stimulus money”.
US 77 is a more civilized 2-lane highway as it does not carry most of the truck traffic between Kansas City and Winnipeg. We take it to about Fremont, Nebraska and then cut over to Gretna where the next KOA is located. That will be our base for the Omaha show.
The rolling cornfields of eastern Nebraska are punctuated by a few small towns. You go through the Winnebago and Omaha Indian reservations along the way. We also pass through Oakland the “little Sweden” of Nebraska. Other than that there is little distraction and none of the torn up highway that we experienced on I-29.
The KOA we stay at in Gretna is near I-80 and only about a 15-20 minute drive to the Rockbrook shopping center were the Art Show is held September 12-13. Rockbrook is an older style outdoor area unlike malls. It is full of interesting stores and restaurants. This is a bigger show than either of the last two; maybe twice as big. It is put on by Rockbrook instead of an Arts Council. This is an old well established show that has had its ups and downs but still attracts a good crowd and is not as frenzied as the big Summer Arts Festival in downtown Omaha.
You need to understand a little about Nebraska and football. The University of Nebraska Cornhuskers college football team is very close to the universal passion here. Due to the 'Huskers playing at home Saturday in nearby Lincoln, NE the crowd was thin. It was also broadcast pay-for-view in the Omaha market so it meant that everyone not at the game was hosting a football party at their home. What this means for us is a very thin crowd. By 4:30 or so after the game was over the crowd automatically got bigger. Sales, however, were slow.
Sunday was a beautiful day and people came to the art show in solid numbers. We did little better than the day before until about 3:30 and in little more than an hour tripled our sales. A customer bought a wonderful Picasso Marble piece with a 5 layer carved bead necklace. An old collector of ours also bought 2 more rings including a large green-Fox turquoise piece that I just made a couple weeks ago. The people of Omaha have treated us well over the years and we appreciate their continued support.
Updated Sept. 23, 2009
The trip from Omaha to Kansas City traverses the southeastern part of Nebraska known by some as the “pretty part” as it consists of rolling fields of corn and soybeans with farmhouses dotting the landscape. Western Nebraska by contrast has little of the agricultural greenery of this part of the state but a case could be made that it has its own charm.
We drove over the Missouri river bridge again at Nebraska City and are shortly back on I-29 far south of the construction or “destruction” zone between Omaha and Sioux City. Going pretty much straight south back into Missouri then crossing the Mason-Dixon Line somewhere north of St. Joseph we exit just north of Platte City. We noodled around a little to find the Interurban Road and our destination; the Basswood RV Resort.
I need to say a little about Basswood. It started out in the last century as a hunting-fishing camp and was upgraded with a lodge to become one of the local attractions. It was served by the old “Interurban Railroad”. You could catch a narrow gauge electric train in downtown KC and ride out to the Basswood and enjoy a day of fishing in a number of stocked spring fed ponds or go hunting. It was visited by many of Missouri’s luminaries including Harry Truman.
In the last few decades it has morphed into a first class RV campground. It boasts full hook-ups, paved parking sites, cable TV, wifi, a little general store, walking trails, and of course the fishing ponds are still there. It sits just north of KCI the big airport and was only about 10-15 minutes from Zona Rosa Shopping Center where the next show was to be held.
The art show at Zona Rosa (09/18-20) needs a little discussion. One reason is because it is in our home state so we have a special interest and it is also a good case study about the perils of the art show business.
Kansas City has a couple of big art festivals. The most famous is the Country Club Plaza show which we have never applied for. It is in the truly beautiful one-of-a-kind shopping center built early in the last century and has been copied widely. The art show there is well established and casts a big shadow over the art landscape in this area; like it or not everything is compared to it.
Nearly every high end shopping area in this part of the world wants to have an art festival to rival the Plaza show. Zona Rosa is no exception. It is designed in a similar manner as the Plaza; classic Spanish. It is sort of like a small town layout with narrow streets and outdoor businesses with chic apartments above the storefronts. It is a little like the new Villages or the Boca Raton shopping centers in Florida.
The art show is a joint project of the Platte County Arts Council and the Zona Rosa management. These kinds of partnership committees are delicate at best. There are priorities in common and in collision at the same time.
Art shows are a fragile thing. Artists are mostly concerned with their work. We are trusting people for the most part. We want the committee who puts on the show to be competent, deliver on their word, and be reasonably friendly. Not too much to expect. We know that often volunteers do much of the work and we rely on and appreciate the volunteers.
The artists bring an atmosphere of creativity and vigor to the shopping center. Art shows are often successfully used by Downtown Redevelopment groups to revitalize sagging city centers. This unique atmosphere must be nurtured it just doesn’t happen by chance. Good corporate management should be aware of this.
I don’t pretend to know all the inside details on the Zona Rosa show but I do know they have been plagued with poor weather in the last few years. That has slowed the progress of the show but not stopped it. Inclement weather is unavoidable but is also a good excuse for shortcomings.
This year the weather was perfect. The crowd was sparse. Advertising visibility was spare to non-existent. There was no welcome from the storeowners, staff, or community. The volunteers soldiered on with little help from management.
Inflated crowd counts are a real problem as promoters often puff up the estimates to attract artist who pay big jury fees and big show fees for the privilege of exhibiting and selling their work. Numbers were floated around that this show would have 50,000 to 80,000 attendees. Sunday morning I talked to a member of management who agreed with my estimate of 5 or 6,000 in the first two days and I think there were no more than about 1,200 on Sunday.
That was not the only problem. The entire atmosphere was devoid of the absolutely critical ingredient to a successful Art Show; there was no BUZZ! This part is not the fault of the Arts Council. Corporate management is in control of the environment and when they specifically prohibit storeowners from putting up simple posters in their windows; one can only imagine what other institutional and legal roadblocks for which they may be responsible. By contrast the Omaha-Rockbrook show was plastered with posters and advertising and Sioux City had a substantial TV and media buy.
They did have awards but judging was on the shoulders of one person as far as I could see. Management evidently would not hire a couple professional designers or decorators to walk the show and judge the participants.
It was good that a Sunday breakfast was held for artists who wanted to attend. Although part of the regular schedule entertainment was provided but no one on the stage encouraged people to visit the Art Show! According to reports from customers the media buy was meager at best. Many people knew nothing of the show. More than once I was told, “…we just came down to get a pizza at Bravos and saw the art show…” or words to that effect.
We ended up selling a couple nice pieces including a large opal to a collector in Kansas; so we fared ok. But for most of the 23 hours we spent at Zona Rosa we talked to other artists, drank coffee, and tried to stay awake. We have been doing this for a long time and know the market and can survive a slow show. Young and beginning artists did not do as well on average and that is a real shame. If these show committees cannot provide a nurturing environment for these beginners to thrive and be encouraged then we will lose the future of this business.
Categories: Journal
Tags: Indiana Iowa Missouri Nebraska South Dakota
Great Dave! Love everything about it! It feels like we're right on the road with ya'll! We'll be in contact with you soon. Joe
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Life is good. Your little article, essay, letter was excellent and a joy to read. We are doing well. Still look forward to a LSU-Missouri Bowl game. That would be a hoot. Love ya. Butch
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