Peoria Art Guild Fine Art Fair Reviews -

Medium: Fiber
Year you most recently exhibited at this Show:
2018
Your Estimated Sales at this Show: $5,001 - $10,000
Price Range of your Work: $125 - $1,195
Number of Years You have Exhibited in this Show:
1st time
Number of Years You have been doing Art Fairs overall: 5-10 years
Attendance: (1 is poor, 5 is great) 4
Location: 4
Facilities: 5
Ease of Participating: 4
Sales: 5
Overall: 4
Booth Fee vs. Your Sales Ratio: Great
Estimated Attendance: 10,001 - 50,000 people

Good Things about this Art Fair:
I had high hopes and no expectations for this show. I had heard good things and some not so good things about this show.

This is a pay to get in show, with a relatively low entrance cost. In my opinion it reduced the "dog walkers" and brought out those who were interested in buying art.

I was pleasantly surprised as to how well organized it was, the hospitality, the ease of participating and the sales.

The quality of the work was exceptional and the patrons were gracious and generous. I sold more high end items at this show than I have at any other show.

Booth fee was $275 plus $20 for electrical.

I grossed 21x booth fee and was fed dinner Friday night, breakfast and lunch both Saturday and Sunday. There was food available at a Saturday night gathering which I didn't attend.

I found a clean hotel 3 miles from the show for less than a total of 200.00 for 3 nights. In other words, my expenses were reasonable and thus my net was well worth the 4 hour drive.

What could this Art Fair have done better?:
The show is located along the Illinois river on Peoria's Riverwalk. Although it is a smaller show, about 130 artists, the layout of the show is a little confusing. I observed more than once people consulting their map and commenting "we've been down this row" or "how should we go".

I personally observed some booth as "islands" which can cause patrons to overlook them.

This year was the first year the Guild had the show open on Friday night. It was not well attended. However, it was miserably cold which could explain the lack of patrons.

Advice to Other Artists Considering this Show:
In my opinion, this is a show worthy of one's consideration. The directors do an exceptional job of communicating.

Load in and load out is not micro managed and everyone around me was a professional that showed great consideration for what everyone was attempting to do; getting in and getting out.

Additional Commentary on this Show:
I applaud Shannon and Kim for a well run show. They did everything right to make it a pleasant experience for the artists and the art buyers.

Posted by: Jeri Vitello | 10/05/2018 at 09:00 PM

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