Hutchinson Arts & Crafts Festival.

Welcome to the Art Show reviews for Hutchinson Arts & Crafts Festival

Art Fair:  Hutchinson Arts & Crafts Festival

Location:  Hutchinson, Minnesota
Held in Library Square Park in
Downtown Hutchinson

Dates:   September 18 - 19, 2020

Presented By:  Hutchinson Area Chamber of Commerce

Founded:  1974

Show Type:  Outdoor

Expected Attendance:   10,000 people

Exhibiting Artists:   150

Artist Application Deadline:   March 31, 2014

Jury Fee:  $25

Booth Fee:  $150 - $275

Web site:    www.explorehutchinson.com

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Comments

[Lawrence Sawyer]

Thanks for the review Ryan! This is very good info to have.

[Ryan Tischer]

Medium: Photography
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show:
2014
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $501-$2000
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show:
2-3 times
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 2
Location: 3
Facilities: 3
Ease of Participating: 3
Sales: 2
Overall: 2
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Poor
Estimated Attendance: 501-10,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
The setup is well organized and load-in/out rules are strictly enforced by the police.

Bad Things about this Art Fair:
This is a "juried" show, meaning they charge you an extra $25 "jury fee" and then just let anyone in anyway. On the artist list there isn't even a category for 2D or painting because the promoters are so clueless.

The booths are setup around Library square, a grassy park with sidewalks throughout and a walkway, just off of Main Street. It's mostly crafts, largely buy/sell, though they claim to jury the show and charge a jury fee. The show was pretty saturated with photographers, so sales weren't very good. Luckily we made one large sale to a local business owner that paid all our expenses and provided a relatively small profit. It was unseasonably cold both Friday and Saturday. The show runs 10-6 Friday and 9-4 Saturday....why, I don't know.

The people running the show charge an extra $75 to use the space behind your booth, despite all of the spots having plenty of space around them. While I was setting up one of the organizers came over and scolded me for extending one of my panels about two feet into the empty space next to my booth. When I asked her why she said, "to be fair to other artists." Another clueless organizer eager to suck as much money from each "vendor" as possible.

They also told me I had to remove my front awning that extended over the sidewalk, despite it being well above everyone's head unless you're Shaq.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
If you have fine art or anything expensive I don't recommend this show. The people that attend are largely unsophisticated and would need to "win the lottery to afford" my work (which isn't overly expensive for fine art and includes prints starting at $39).

There are no less than ten police officers employed at any time during this festival along with two "Mobile Command Centers" at each side of the show. I'd estimate there are 170 artists at the show and attendance no more than 10,000, making this an unnecessary showing of force and huge waste of taxpayer money, but hey it's the tax dollars of Hutchinson at work, not mine!

If you sell cheap crafts items like signs that say, "Live, Laugh, Love" or children's tutu's then this is the show for you. If you have genuine handmade items that cost more than $30, I'd think twice about applying.