When Good Shows Go Bad

Arts shows aren’t much different from people – each has its own personality And, sometimes, a good one goes bad.

Such is the case with my most recent show. I won’t name it and open myself up to problems from organizers, but if you really want to know, just ask me.

The show attracted nearly 100 vendors, is located in a lovely wooded space in a mountain resort town and attracted plenty of tourists, locals and second-home owners looking for souvenirs or décor items. In years past, it was a show worth participating in.

My, how things have changed.

There was, frankly, a lot of crap being sold: store-bought kitchen towels with newly crocheted borders; store-bought flip flops decorated with yarn and a glue gun; mass-produced laser-cut metal things that twirl in the wind; large metal road signs with sayings like “Daschund Crossing” and “Parking for Irish Only;” unframed pencil drawings of Elvis or Jesus.

There were some diamonds among the rough, including gorgeous metal-wrapped and painted gourd pots, amusing decorative clay masks and creative “found art” items, but overall the quality of the show was pretty low.

And this was supposed to be a juried show.

Equally annoying was the seemingly thoughtless way the show was set up. Of 95 vendors, about 60 were selling some type of jewelry and many of them were assigned spaces next to each other. Soap-makers were located across from each other. Photographers were side-by-side.
Fortunately, no one had anything even close to being similar to my products, and my repeat customers sought me out. My sales ended up being fine. But the overall quality of the experience for customers and vendors was such that this is on show I won’t return to.