St Johns River Festival of the Arts Reviews'

Medium: Photography
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show: 2017
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: < $500
Price Range of your Work: $25 - $575
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show:
2-3 times
Number of Years You have been doing Art Fairs overall: 2-3 years
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 3
Location: 4
Facilities: 4
Ease of Participating: 5
Sales: 1
Overall: 3
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Poor
Estimated Attendance: 10,001 - 50,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
Great location, easy in/out, well organized, good artist amenities, friendly staff

What could this Art Fair have done better?:
Social media promotion could have been better. Maybe promote the artists; work? (Great advertising otherwise.)

The crowds were decent, they just weren't buying. Very slow show.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
It's Sanford. It's not an affluent town by any means, but it's funky and trying to be progressive and is very friendly toward artists.

The show is not known for being a knock-it-out-of-the-park show. Artists can usually cover expenses, though.

Additional Commentary on this Show:
This one is close to home for me and reasonably priced which makes it desirable. Lower priced items definitely did better here.

Posted by: Karen Kurta | 05/09/2017 at 11:06 PM

Medium: Photography
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show:
2016
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $500
Price Range of your Work: $10-560
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show:
1st time
Number of Years You have been doing Art Fairs overall: 1st year
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 3
Location: 5
Facilities: 5
Ease of Participating: 5
Sales: 3
Overall: 4
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Good
Estimated Attendance: 501-10,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
Very well managed. Artist amenities were great. Easy load in/out. Plenty of room for crowds, storage, etc. Very pleasant show.

Bad Things about this Art Fair:
Crowds were very thin at times despite being well advertised (there was a car show a few blocks over which I'm sure didn't help).

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
My first time at this show. It was my first year doing this and this was by far my best show (the only one I came out ahead on). Crowds were pretty good on Saturday, but not many buyers.

Definitely more buyers on Sunday, but by the afternoon the crowds were pretty thin.

Many artists were not happy with their sales, though. It was pretty hot too, not sure if that had anything to do with it.

Additional Commentary on this Show:
I'll try it again, especially because it's local for me and reasonably priced.

Sanford is a funky, artsy little town, so this show had a good audience to draw from. Hopefully the crowds will be better next year.

The URL of your profile on ArtFairInsiders.com.
http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profile/KarenKurta

Posted by: Karen Kurta | 05/07/2016 at 03:35 PM

I also exhibited in this show and yes, we did have terrible weather Friday night setting up and beyond. Some booths did get effected or downed, but by Saturday morning it had passed and was calm and dry all day...even with some showers around us. Crowds were light Saturday but Sunday made up for it. A bit more wind but no rain, bright sun and lots of people. For most, sales did pick up except the drawing artist next to me who had no sales but won first in his category for $800. So that helped.

I agree that the artists are treated the best, even very colorful magnetic name ID 's, lots of food and helpers. It is one of the best shows I had this spring and for a 2nd year show, that is doing well. Jurying was very good, 2 sets of judges looked at everyone well. The draw was the demonstrating artists in many categories who could and did show how their work was done so the public could appreciate their art/craft from the bottom up in process. Education is the key to understanding for appreciation to be better about what art is in our lives and how we respond to it.

I would recommend this to new artists as it does have great potential to becoming a very good show .

Posted by: JoAnn Wedge | 05/13/2013 at 11:02 AM

Show Name: st. Johns River Festival of The Arts
City and State: Sanford FL
Your Medium: Jewelry
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show: 2013
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $501-$2000
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show: 1st time
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 3
Location: 5 (great)
Facilities: 5 (great)
Ease of Participating: 5 (great)
Sales: 2
Overall: 4
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Good
Estimated Attendance: 501-10,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair: The directors and staff treated vendors like royalty: ease of setting up, booth sitters, free breakfast both days, free lunch on Saturday, private indoor restroom, free electricity. Never exhibited in a show that treated exhibitors so well. The show must have had a lot of sponsors, as the cost of paying for all the perks had to be high, including lots of awards: Best of Show, plus First, Second and Third in several categories. Also, the artists were judged on all their work and booth presentation, not just one piece. Never experienced that before and thought it a great idea.

Bad Things about this Art Fair: Weather. All around the area was pouring rain and wind on Saturday, though at the show we stayed dry. I am sure this kept customers from attending who lived in surrounding cities. Sunday, however, was perfect and sales reflected it. With two days of good weather, I think my sales would have been much better. Bottom line is, I did make money. Saturday I only had low ticket sales, but on Sunday started selling higher priced items ($70-$100). I mention this because I believe high ticket buyers do and will attend this show.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show: If you live in Central Florida, this is a great opportunity to support an emerging show that has the potential to be great. There is little risk because you do not have traveling expenses.nif you do not live here, I would still recommend it. I expect the show to improve annually. Two of the directors are former exhibiting artists, so they know the business from that side also.
Additional Commentary on this Show: This was year two for the show. A photographer near me had good enough sales in last year's to return. Sales were not phenomenal, but very good for a young show. The promoters are doing the right things and I intend to continue supporting them as I see great potential for this show.

A few artist complained about their location and show layout. Was told by one exhibitor there will be some changes next year, but I did not hear this officially.

Posted by: Candyce Moreland | 05/12/2013 at 09:06 PM

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