AmeriCU Syracuse Arts and Crafts Festival Reviews`

Medium: Photography
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show:
2017
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $501 - $2,000
Price Range of your Work: $80 - $1,800
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show:
1st time
Number of Years You have been doing Art Fairs overall: 2-3 years
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 2
Location: 4
Facilities: 3
Ease of Participating: 5
Sales: 1
Overall: 2
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Poor
Estimated Attendance: 501 - 10,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
The people running it are very nice.
They had a food and wine barbecue after the show, Saturday. Simple yet very nice. They were eager to please. And very giving.

They gave us a paper with their phone numbers, so if we needed a booth sitter or help, they would assist. *** see comment below***

Again they were very friendly, pleasant and nice to deal with.

Able to put extra inventory behind the booth.
The customers are very pleasant. If compliments put food on the table, I would be obese now. (oops, too late).

Hotel accommodations were discounted very nicely. Hotel was very good. Free parking although a bit of a hike.

What could this Art Fair have done better?:
Advertise to bring in more "qualified customers". Not just body counts but "good prospects".

Be attentive to promised booth assistance:
On Saturday, I called and left a message as I needed a bathrooom break. They never returned my call nor came over.

The next day when I stopped at their booth and told them what happened, they first claimed I must have dialed the wrong number. When I showed my cell phone logs, and the number dialed they said they did not know that number. Then and the guy sitting there realized it was his number. Oh, he does not check his messages!!!

Not a lot of foot traffic.

Those "customers" that were there, were present for the entertainment, not to buy. If they were buying it was very low end / low priced - under $45.

I had a group/family in my tent. They were raving/complimenting me on how "outstanding" they felt my work was.

However, they did not ask any prices nor seem like they were buying anything.

When they started to look at some small canvas decal type prints I made, I mentioned how durable they were. Great for the kids and that I would give them for $10 with a discount if they bought several.

She looked at me and stated... "Oh, no we came to look. We did not come to buy".

There was entertainment galore. Some dancers kept doing shows across the street from my booth. As a result, it built a crowd. GOOD RIGHT? WRONG! The people had their backs to our booths, watching the performance, then left.

I had some, very good interest in some of my pieces but could not close the sales. I've been doing sales since I was very young. I've taught sales in corporations. I'm not bad at it. This was not a buying crowd.

They had a juryed competition with prizes. We select 1 or 2 pieces of our work, bring it to a building and pick it up later.

I had a good look at what other submissions were in the photography category. Nothing of significance to my trained eye.

I did not win anything. They did not announce nor post the results. Who won? Would have been nice to notify us.

Many of the artists did not break the ice by Sunday morning.

One of the fellow artists, I spoke with a lot, had been doing this show for several years. He has also been doing Ann Arbor for over 13 years. He did not break the ice Saturday. Sold only his least expensive, very cheap pieces Sunday.

There was another festival going on about 6 blocks away or more. They came around the show, hawking with handouts and talking to people to try and pull them away.

Not art. They wanted cheap, area specific, unimaginative pieces or food.

Popcorn sold like crazy. So busy they had to limit the flavors. For $8 to $11 bag.

Yet Small art for $10 didn't move.

Lots of crafts, food, buy/sell.

VERY BAD ending:
Remember, streets are closed to vehicles during the entire show.

Notice was given in advance and at the show. No early breakdowns etc.

Show ended at 5:00 pm Sunday.
However, people were already broken down by 4:30pm. Some on Saturday, also. Then at 4:50 pm a vendor in a truck with a large trailer behind pulls up the street and parks smack in front of my booth. Wants people to move so he can go to and tow his vending booth away. I would not move.

Finally, after complaints, a security guy came and told the guy he could not be doing this. So the guy just sat, blocking my booth.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
Bring only very inexpensive items. Area specific art does best.

Be prepared to walk a distance to your car.

Additional Commentary on this Show:
It might just be the area is depressed.
Photography is big in that area. This I knew in advance. As my medium is photography, I thought it might be tough. More people were interested in the technical details and knowledge of how I accomplished the prints than to admire and purchase.

At least 8 people were interested in classes from me. Some have reached out to me since then requesting such. I don't do online classes and would have to charge too much to drive up there for them.

Another photographer I spoke to there, used to be a woodworker. 3 years ago he switched to photography. He said he investigated the show prior to entering the first year. He found the photogs were doing badly. None had local shots. So he went out and shot a bunch of the local buildings. He said he did very good that year.

At his show I talked to people, whenever they passed by my booth, carrying a bag, which was rare!

Some had his pictures. Very small, very plain, standard, front shots of the buildings only a block or two away. Sold for $30 range.

That is what was selling.

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

Posted by: Larry Sohn | 08/21/2017 at 10:48 PM

2017.

I did the Syracuse show last month and I have to say, it was a disappointment. The Friday night setup went easily enough but the load out was a horror show.

Sales, pretty much along the spectrum were poor, to the point where other artists, including myself, were wondering if they were going to recoup their booth fees, I didn't.

The weather was good but the crowds were just lookers, out for an afternoon stroll. There weren't many booth sitters, or at least, they were few and far between.

As to whether or not I will return, let me say this:

Etsi omnes, ego non. (Even if all others, not I.)

But hey, the food was good!

Posted by: Alyn Federico | 08/18/2017 at 05:52 PM

I applied for this show several years ago, was rejected, then applied for the adjacent Montgomery St. show the next year. I've participated in that show ever since, and I have to say that it is one of my best shows!

I'm pleased to be associated with the Montgomery Street Cooperative because the money taken in from artists goes directly to funding art programs for youth in Syracuse.

Posted by: Cindy Schmidt | 07/20/2014 at 08:59 PM

Show Name: Syracuse Arts & Crafts Festival
City and State: Syracuse, NY
Your Medium: Photography
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: 2
Facilities: 2
Ease of Participating: 4
Sales: 1 (poor)
Overall: 2
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Poor
Estimated Attendance: 501-10,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
There was a steady crowd, but really not much for buyers. We did have an awful rainstorm the second day and the workers did everything possible to clean it up, that was great. Workers def helped.

Bad Things about this Art Fair:
Not much for buyers. Maybe it was just an off year, it was my worst show ever. I was also put in a awful spot, but a few of my artist friends were in key spots and still did not do well.

Posted by: Emily Stauring | 02/17/2014 at 04:39 PM

Show Name: Downtown Syracuse Art and Crafts Festival
City and State: Syracuse, NY
Your Medium: Wood
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show: 2013
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $2001-$5000
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show: 1st time
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 4
Location: 5 (great)
Facilities: 4
Ease of Participating: 4
Sales: 4
Overall: 4
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Great
Estimated Attendance: 501-10,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair: Good location, amenities for artists, ( coffee and snacks in the morning, dinner friday evening, indoor restrooms) The staff was very helpful and cooperative.

Bad Things about this Art Fair:It is a downtown show, so there is the usual traffic considerations to deal with.
Narrow streets, and load out was a zoo because some artists weren't very good about working with others reference making sure everyone had access to load.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:If you use a trailer, you may want to consider arriving very early so that you can secure a parking spot near where your booth will be. Getting a trailer into your booth for load out can be very difficult.

Additional Commentary on this Show:This was my first time doing this show. I enjoyed the show and did well in spite of the rain on Sunday. I also liked that the judging process was for your work, and not for your booth.

Posted by: Wayne Hayden | 08/03/2013 at 09:56 PM

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