I Don't Like Outdoor Shows

I paid a hundred bucks to be apart of an outdoor artshow a few years back. It was a two day festival on Lake Erie, so we rented a room. The lady in charge assured me that people bought like crazy the year before. It was called, "Perchfest". A festival of beer, and fish.I sold some dog leashes, and jewelry. I didn't quite break even. To be accepted for that festival, I had to participate in an obligatory, "Art in The Park" the week prior. No one came to that, and I didn't sell anything. The next spring, I thought I'd try it again. There was an art show in a well-to-do suburb near-by. Outside again. After setting up, the wind decided to show me what it thought of my efforts smashing my work on the ground, broken glass everywhere. I made about $60.00 in the sales of a couple of prints, and dropped and smashed one of my best sculptures that I was asking $250.00 for. I promised myself I was done with the outside artshows.

Recently I was invited to participate in, "Youngstown Rocks The Arts" The first annual outdoor art and music festival put on by the newly founded, "Art Youngstown Inc." They waived their fee for me, so I decided to give it a go. They said the space they would provide would be under a large tent, so what could happen? When I got there, I was immediately apprehensive. There was a strong, constant wind blowing, and low, and behold, there were no sides on the tent. From the start, the struggle was on. I set up my new cardboard display. (stop laughing). The wind whimsically flung my paintings about, as I wove a spider web of string around my display in a futile attempt to secure it. Then the hard rain came, and reduced my display to a soggy heap of paper. The paintings got wet, but were alright, just most of the 23 frames they were in got ruined. The rain stopped, and we called Steve to see if he would bring my old display(rolled plastic fence). While we waited the two hours for that to arrive. I hung my paintings from a string in clothesline fashion. just as they were all up, the rain came again. It continued to rain off and on into the evening. I finally set to split at 11:00p.m. as another thunderstorm was kicking up. After I packed up, the vendor next to me came over and said, "Oh, I didn't see you packing up, I wanted to buy a dog leash!" I offered to lay them all out for her to choose, but she wasn't very picky, and bought the first one she came to. I thanked her, and told her she was my first and last sale of the day.

Don't get me wrong, the offer from Art Youngstown was gracious, and I appreciated it. I certainly can't hold them responsible for the weather. They did a good job gathering local artists, and musicians, just not the art buying public. Even that may not be their fault. The art buying public may be a myth. I wouldn't know. In the local newspaper they said of me, "Jeff Puccini of boardman was glad to be an oil painter and not a watercolor artist when the rain came down. "They should be alright" he said reffering to the paintings he stowed in a box under the large artist's tent. Still he was disappointed to see the clouds roll in. "It barely got started" he said of the festival. The last time he did an outdoor show he vowed it would be the last. Have his feelings changed about subjecting his work to the weather? "I really don't like outdoor shows" He said.