The last art show we worked at was in Bartlett, Illinois. The final weekend of June was the 27th and 28th and we traveled up to the Chicago to participate in what was a new show for us. Called “Arts in Bartlett” in was held at Bartlett Park one of several parks in this older tree shaded suburb in western Cook county.
Relatively small it had some 60 exhibitors spread out in generous spaces across the park which has a large gazebo and rustic log cabin on the grounds. Both Saturday and Sunday saw beautiful weather in the mid to upper 80’s and clear skies although Sunday was a little breezy living up to Chicago being the “Windy City”. As good fortune would have it the only rough weather was overnight into Sunday morning when a stormy shield of moderate rain moved through the area. This bump in the otherwise good weather could not be blamed for deterring anyone from attending.
We had not done an art show with our jewelry anywhere in northern Illinois so this was to be a test on several counts. The quality of the show was typical for a suburban park show; a little spotty but generally better than average. The crowd participation on Saturday was slow to poor although Sunday was somewhat better termed by most artists as “fair but not good”.
Sales followed the crowd. Although a few artists with lower priced work reported good sales that sector suffered for the most part. Moderate and above priced work did little or (literally) nothing. Some of the veteran artists who have shown well in past Chicago area events were shocked at the lack of crowd enthusiasm.
As for us; having no expectations or experience became an attitudinal advantage. However, at the end of the day our sales experience was relatively soft. Low attendance and poor enthusiasm took its toll although we were among those who did relatively well; under the circumstances.
The big surprise for us was in the judging competition we were fortunate enough to be awarded a ribbon of First Place in Three Dimensional Art. It is unusual for jewelry to win outside the category awards so wining one of the top awards which included a cash prize was both surprising and welcome. We are grateful to the committee and judges for their consideration and also salute the other award winners.
Bartlett Park is a very nice setting although the show suffers from the same problems some other art festivals have had. What I am told elsewhere by art show committees is the formula that worked to get a crowd out in 2004-2006 does not work in 2009. Times have changed and unless the committees hire a consultant or are able to access their corporate sponsor’s marketing agent they will have problems building a crowd and reputation in the current market climate.
Outside of the show itself we found some problems we will have to overcome if we go back. The Chicago area is not RV friendly. Although the committee had arranged for people to park RV’s at the nearby school lot the School District reneged at the last minute and left some artists in the lurch. We were uneasy about the arrangements from the gitgo so we did find one of the only RV campgrounds in the area 16 miles away at Blackwell Forest Preserve which is only open on weekends with very limited facilities. It worked and we had a nice bucolic area to stay at but only due to diligence and the Grace of God.
Like winning an award we had another nice surprise; this one was RV related. On the way north and then back we found the lovely Hickory Hill RV park at Secor, Illinois just west of El Paso off US 24. Tree shaded, park-like, quiet, and with a gracious staff it was a lifesaver especially at 10 PM Sunday night after we had packed up the show and driven 120 miles south to park our trailer in a cozy safe campground.
Our next outing is to Sellersburg, Indiana just north of Louisville on August 22 and 23. More about that show later.