Show season is winding down.

At least summer show season, anyway. A couple weekends ago I participated in Art Off Pike in Covington, KY's arts district. This was my third year as an artist/vendor there. My lack of sales there last year made me reluctant to try it again, but after the success I had at the Mason Arts Festival last month, I guess I was feeling good and lucky. I actually missed the juried entry deadline. And the extended deadline.

I'm the first to admit that I'm a procrastinator. Jewelry is such a tough category at some shows and I honestly figured it was way too late to try. I sent off an email to the nice lady coordinating the event anyway, and she got right back to me and told me to send in my photos and application. I was accepted and I'm glad I gave it another shot! (My point is, it never hurts to ask, even if you're late on a deadline!)

The morning got off to a chilly start, but with promise of highs in the low 80s, I ran out the door with shorts on and a sweater over my short sleeved shirt. Boy, was I freezing. There were a few volunteers who practically unloaded my car for me, and while I parked my car, they set up my tent. I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived back at my booth space. I do hate the tent setting up part! And it's always tricky to do it yourself. I've heard it can be done, but I've never successfully done it myself. I was just so thankful the volunteers were there!

Okay, tent up, jewelry out... still freezing! The day went on with a decent amount of people wandering from booth to booth. It did eventually warm up. To the 80s. It was so HOT! lol I couldn't believe it. If I remember correctly, the high was 86º. Honestly, I'm not complaining, but I was surprised.

The lovely sunny, warm weather kept a steady stream of visitors and people were actually buying this year! It was a pretty drastic difference from last year's show. I didn't get a chance to walk around, but I did not see a bunch of jewelry artists there this year – another pleasant surprise. The couple I could see from my booth were very much different from what I was offering, so that was a definite plus.

I'm not really sure if it's the economy starting to bounce back, the weather or the change in style of my merchandise, but the show had a better energy than previously. Probably a combination of all of those things. I imagine I will try to make the deadline for entry next year!

Here is my booth set-up from this time around. I decided to add some 11"x11" color prints of a few of my pieces. I printed them at work on the nice color printer and mounted them on foamcore. I punched holes in them and hung them from large binder rings. Economical and eye-catching. I had a few comments from passersby that they had drawn them in. One lady actually said they made her buy the earrings, so they did the trick there! I think it's an idea that could work for most types of booths.

View to the right of me.
The Arcade is a passageway that led to the other street with vendors. They had various local musical groups and a duo throughout the day. This one was my personal favorite.
The view to the left of my booth.