"ann arbor" after thoughts...

updated wed 26 aug 98

Tracey Dobbins on tue 11 aug 98

-------------------
Curious to know the thoughts of those who participated in this years
festivities? How do you feel it compared to previous years?

Thanks to all who take time to reply=21

Paul Lewing on wed 12 aug 98

Since the Ann Arbor fair is one of the biggest fairs in the country, I
was wondering if anyone knew what the attendance is.

The reason I'm curious is that the oldest fair in our area, the
Pacific NW Arts & Crafts Fair, which we all call the Bellevue Fair
after the Seattle suburb it's held in, gives its attendance as 310,000
people. They, of course, don't have any way of really knowing, and
this figure is pure fantasy on their part. There are only 106,000
people in the town of Bellevue, and that would be more than our local
NFL football team draws in a season. It would be more people in three
days than the combined total of the Home Show, the Flower & Garden
Show and the Boat Show, which run a total of 19 days. In their
dreams! But all of the local papers print this figure every year
without a second thought.

So, does anybody know the figure for Ann Arbor, or for that matter,
any of the other really large crafts fairs, just for comparison?

Paul Lewing, Seattle

Richard Aerni on thu 13 aug 98

Paul,

Ann Arbor has always claimed they get 400,000-500,000 attendance during
the fair. Don't know if it's right or not...don't really care, as the
folks they get coming through come to BUY. That is really important.
I've always thought that the attendance is only important to the
organizers if they charge at the gate. For myself, I go by reports from
those in my market niche, to let me know whether it's worth my while to
apply or not.

Richard Aerni
Bloomfield, NY


Paul Lewing wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Since the Ann Arbor fair is one of the biggest fairs in the country, I
> was wondering if anyone knew what the attendance is.
>
> The reason I'm curious is that the oldest fair in our area, the
> Pacific NW Arts & Crafts Fair, which we all call the Bellevue Fair
> after the Seattle suburb it's held in, gives its attendance as 310,000
> people. They, of course, don't have any way of really knowing, and
> this figure is pure fantasy on their part. There are only 106,000
> people in the town of Bellevue, and that would be more than our local
> NFL football team draws in a season. It would be more people in three
> days than the combined total of the Home Show, the Flower & Garden
> Show and the Boat Show, which run a total of 19 days. In their
> dreams! But all of the local papers print this figure every year
> without a second thought.
>
> So, does anybody know the figure for Ann Arbor, or for that matter,
> any of the other really large crafts fairs, just for comparison?
>
> Paul Lewing, Seattle

Alex, Aurora and Leah Solla on fri 14 aug 98

Having just returned from the Bellevue show I can testify most definitely
there were not 310,000 people. If there were, they were all at McDonalds.
Real estimate might be closer to 25-35,000. That would still leave a wide
margin of over-estimation. There really arent that many people that attend
this show as people may think. Most shopping seemed to be done friday
morning before 2pm. The rest of the weekend was more like walking around
and having fun. BIG Sales were certainly not a big part of Sat and Sun. All
in all though, an okay show though they really need to get a clue about how
to load-in. Was just a terrible situation this year. Needs more
coordination. And the setting still makes me wonder. Who ever thought of
putting a show of this size in a parking garage... complete with sodium
vapor lights and low ceilings... claustrophobia look out!

Just my $.02 after spending my 4 days in Bellevue this summer.

Alex Solla in Utah where the preying mantis is showing up again... guess
that means summer is nearly done.






At 12:15 PM 8/12/98 -0400, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Since the Ann Arbor fair is one of the biggest fairs in the country, I
>was wondering if anyone knew what the attendance is.
>
>The reason I'm curious is that the oldest fair in our area, the
>Pacific NW Arts & Crafts Fair, which we all call the Bellevue Fair
>after the Seattle suburb it's held in, gives its attendance as 310,000
>people. They, of course, don't have any way of really knowing, and
>this figure is pure fantasy on their part. There are only 106,000
>people in the town of Bellevue, and that would be more than our local
>NFL football team draws in a season. It would be more people in three
>days than the combined total of the Home Show, the Flower & Garden
>Show and the Boat Show, which run a total of 19 days. In their
>dreams! But all of the local papers print this figure every year
>without a second thought.
>
>So, does anybody know the figure for Ann Arbor, or for that matter,
>any of the other really large crafts fairs, just for comparison?
>
>Paul Lewing, Seattle
>

Carolynn Palmer on fri 14 aug 98

AAA of Michigan did a "crowd count" one year, I believe it was 1981. Anyway,
their count was 570,000 for that year. I don't know if anyone has done any
kind of count since then.

I've always read that 500,000 buyers (and lookers) attend for the four days of
the three simultaneous fairs. But that's the only "professional" count I am
aware of that actually exists.

I've been doing the Summer Art Fair (the Michigan Guild fair) on Main Street
since 1977, and I believe the count must really vary from one year to the
next.

And having done art fairs for so many years, I am of the opinion that those
attendance figures published by the organizers of these events have little
relationship to reality or fact. Except for shows that charge a "gate" or
entrance fee, most have no way of determining a count.

Carolynn Palmer, Somerset Center, Michigan

Kathi LeSueur on fri 14 aug 98

In a message dated 8/12/98 4:20:23 PM, you wrote:

>So, does anybody know the figure for Ann Arbor, or for that matter,
>any of the other really large crafts fairs, just for comparison?
>
>Paul Lewing, Seattle

Paul,
I'm an Ann Arborite who did the fair for twenty-two years . Quit two years
ago. The fair, in the past, has attracted about 500,000 people over the course
of the four days. This is based on a number of things. Parking ( a hot
commodity) and the shuttle buses to the fair are the most important. Until
this year the Ann Arbor Trans. Authority published their ridership figures.
Until this year the Ann Arbor News published attendance figures. This year
there was silence. I suspect this is because attendance was down dramatically.

Reports from Main Street artists is that you could see across the street at
all times. Others said that only the functional potter's were selling. Many of
my regular customers say they never attend any more. "It's too crowded", "It's
not fun any more", "It's become to 'highly juried' for my taste and
pocketbook".

In spite of this there are people who had a record year. I spoke last night to
a woodworker who sold over $20,000. His best year.

So, I would say that the attendance numbers are pretty on target and even
though my attitude to this event is negative in the extreme, I do believe you
can believe the numbers.

Kathi LeSueur

June Perry on sat 15 aug 98

In a message dated 8/14/1998 12:37:27 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
KLeSueur@AOL.COM writes:

<< Many of
my regular customers say they never attend any more. "It's too crowded",
"It's
not fun any more", "It's become to 'highly juried' for my taste and
pocketbook". >>

Dear Kathi:

I think those are very telling comments. And I must say, that I feel the same
way when I go to shows. So much of the work today is so slick, so one
design/pattern/color oriented, that the work doesn't look hand made. Yet the
jurors don't seem to want the type of work produced by studio potters like
Warrem Mckenzie, Cynthia Bringle, etc. -- people who don't have a line for
multiple orders. The focus appears to be on one style and the potter sinks or
swims on that one style. Lucky for her or him if it's what the public wants
that year.

A friend of mine goes to the Ann Arbor show every year and last year she told
me of a potter whose booth was the busiest. She said he didn't have the best
pots, nor the best prices, but he had lots of work and lots of choice of
shapes and colors, and it appeared to be what the buyers wanted.

A short while ago someone else on the list wrote about buyers complaining
about the absence of hand made looking functional pottery at another show.
Maybe someone should hold a show featuring this type of work. It seems that
there is definitely a market for it that is not be catered to and maybe the
buyers are resisting people trying to determine for them what they should
want.

When I go to shows these days, it usually doesn't take long to see
everything., because of this tendency to want to push the artists into a
single focus, I find that half the time I don't even walk into booths, since a
single glance gives you the whole picture. I always love to walk into booths
with lots of functional or sculptural forms, multiple glazes,etc. It's like
an adventure or a treasure hunt. Anyway, this is one middle-aged lady's
preference and personal opinions. :-)

Thanks for the feed back on the show.

Warm regards,
June

Paul Lewing on sat 15 aug 98

Carolynn Palmer wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> AAA of Michigan did a "crowd count" one year, I believe it was 1981. Anyway,
> their count was 570,000 for that year. I don't know if anyone has done any
> kind of count since then.
>
> I've always read that 500,000 buyers (and lookers) attend for the four days of
> the three simultaneous fairs. But that's the only "professional" count I am
> aware of that actually exists.
>
This I really cannot believe! I think this is a real good example of
people not having a concept of figures. Let's put this in perspective.
If you line up 570,000 people single file, two feet per person, that's
a line 215 miles long. If you give every person a 2' x 2' square of
ground to stand on, that would cover 50 football fields. If they come
three people to a car, and a car is 20' long, that's a line of cars
720 miles long- 190,000 cars. Are there 190,000 parking places around
the fair?
I don't know what the gross sales at the Ann Arbor fair is but the
Bellevue Fair claims their 310,000 people spend $1.4 million, and they
really do know how much is spent, or at least what people write down,
because they charge a 25% commission. That's about $4.50 per person.
Would you think that was a great fair? If 570,000 people spend even
an average of $10 each, that's $5,700,000. Divide that by the number
of booths and see if that sounds reasonable.
I also don't know the population of the Ann Arbor area but if
Bellevue's figures were correct it would be about one out of 10 people
in the the whole Puget Sound Basin. I don't think so.

Paul Lewing, Seattle

Tom Wirt on sun 16 aug 98

>
>When I go to shows these days, it usually doesn't take long to see
>everything., because of this tendency to want to push the artists into a
>single focus, I find that half the time I don't even walk into booths,
since a
>single glance gives you the whole picture. I always love to walk into
booths
>with lots of functional or sculptural forms, multiple glazes,etc. It's
like
>an adventure or a treasure hunt. Anyway, this is one middle-aged lady's
>preference and personal opinions. :-)
>
>Thanks for the feed back on the show.
>
>Warm regards,
>June


Hi June...et. al.

I have to agree. I suspect it's what Wendy is saying when she says there's
a shortage of functional potters. A year ago Wendy said she was reading a
decline in functional pottery from the lack of show applications she was
receiving for the Philly shows. Again, my suspicion is that this may have
been that they were all as busy as they wanted to/could be.

As to jurying, probably the Uptown here in Mpls. is a good example. The
only "old line" functional people there are the grandfathered ones. The
jury criteria (at least they tell us what the criteria is), is "impact and
originality", and you can guess what that leads to. One of our customers
said "it's fun to look at but who'd want to live with it?.

Tom, voicing only one point of view and with a functional orientation who
gets juried out of Uptown, but sells everything we can make, Wirt
Clay Coyote Pottery
Hutchinson, MN
claypot@hutchtel.net

HLMass@aol.com on sun 16 aug 98

In a message dated 98-08-15 09:18:57 EDT, you write:

<< I always love to walk into booths
with lots of functional or sculptural forms, multiple glazes,etc. It's like
an adventure or a treasure hunt. Anyway, this is one middle-aged lady's
preference and personal opinions. :-) >>

June,

It is funny to read that statement since I am constantly told just the
opposite. I have been doing mainly small local shows for awhile now and am
looking to try and get into some of the larger art fairs. When I bring my
booth slides into potters I know that do these fairs, their response is that
it looks too busy. Too many colors, shapes, sizes. Pick a couple of form and
use one or two glaze combinations. That is the suggestion I keep hearing from
multiple sources.

Heather in Connecticut

Carolynn Palmer on sun 16 aug 98

I actually believe that over 500,000 people attend the Ann Arbor fairs.
Having been involved in one of the organizations that puts on one of them, I
have seen the figures. Remember, not everyone comes to the fair at the same
time and stays for all 4 days.

The "Ann Arbor Fair" is actually 3 fairs going on simultaneously in the same
city, widespread geographically and spread over 4 days. (Actually 4 fairs if
you count "The King's Chosen.") Plus, there are numerous streets where there
is no "art fair" but there are "squatters" (on private property) who have come
to take advantage of the crowds, one street that is set aside for nonprofit
organizations to have booths, and every merchant(whether or not they are
located on a street within the fair) also has merchandise out on the sidewalk
at bargain prices.

The city has become ingenious at crowd control and the carloads of people are
parked outside of the city at a mall parking lot and at a high school. These
people are shuttle-bussed into Ann Arbor. These shuttles are run by the Ann
Arbor Transit Authority and they do a count.

Most years I couldn't possibly ever see the booth across the street from me
for hours, and the people slowly lock-stepped past my booth in a crowd so
thick they were afraid to step into my booth for fear of losing their place in
line, and I could hardly get out of my booth in the rear because the sidewalk
behind my booth was just as crowded.

This year we did not experience this problem ever during any of the four days
on my street.

I agree with Kathi LeSueur, if the organizers of these fairs continue on their
trend to jury in only slick, expensive work, these crowds of buyers will
become legends of the past when the fairs used to let in a full range of work
and people came in crowds.

Carolynn Palmer, Somerset Center, Michigan

Richard Aerni on sun 16 aug 98

Interestingly, my "take" on the part of the Ann Arbor shows that I take
part in (The Street Art Fair) was that this year the show featured more,
and better, functional work than I'd seen in any of the previous 11 shows
I've been in.

Everyone's experience with a show is unique, and often different than
another craftsperson's. Ann Arbor to me has always been my best
show...better even than Cherry Creek, Baltimore ACE, and the Smithsonian
Show. The people are enthusiastic pot buyers, and seem to appreciate
quality. But then, everyone's experiences are different...

Respectfully,

Richard Aerni
Bloomfield, NY


June Perry wrote:
> KLeSueur@AOL.COM writes:
>
> << Many of
> my regular customers say they never attend any more. "It's too crowded",
> "It's
> not fun any more", "It's become to 'highly juried' for my taste and
> pocketbook". >>
>
> Dear Kathi:
>
> I think those are very telling comments. And I must say, that I feel the same
> way when I go to shows. So much of the work today is so slick, so one
> design/pattern/color oriented, that the work doesn't look hand made. Yet the
> jurors don't seem to want the type of work produced by studio potters like
> Warrem Mckenzie, Cynthia Bringle, etc. -- people who don't have a line for
> multiple orders. The focus appears to be on one style and the potter sinks or
> swims on that one style. Lucky for her or him if it's what the public wants
> that year.
>
> A friend of mine goes to the Ann Arbor show every year and last year she told
> me of a potter whose booth was the busiest. She said he didn't have the best
> pots, nor the best prices, but he had lots of work and lots of choice of
> shapes and colors, and it appeared to be what the buyers wanted.
>
> A short while ago someone else on the list wrote about buyers complaining
> about the absence of hand made looking functional pottery at another show.
> Maybe someone should hold a show featuring this type of work. It seems that
>
> I always love to walk into booths
> with lots of functional or sculptural forms, multiple glazes,etc. It's like

Kathi LeSueur on sun 16 aug 98

In a message dated 8/15/98 1:23:19 PM, you wrote:

<people not having a concept of figures. Let's put this in perspective.
If you line up 570,000 people single file, two feet per person, that's
a line 215 miles long. If you give every person a 2' x 2' square of
ground to stand on, that would cover 50 football fields. If they come
three people to a car, and a car is 20' long, that's a line of cars
720 miles long- 190,000 cars. Are there 190,000 parking places around
the fair?>>>

Paul,
If you've never been to Ann Arbor during the street art fair, you really have
no idea of the phenomenon that takes place here. 500,000 people over the
course of 4 days is 125,000 per day. Consider that the Michigan football
stadium holds over 100,000 people. Of that, at best, one fifth of the
attendees are students.People start arriving at about 9 am for a noon game. It
takes just 3 hours for that many people to arrive and get into the stadium.
They park at the high school, on the street, at the malls, and on peoples
lawns. All within a one mile radius of the game.

Now consider that people arriive for the fair from 8 am until about 7 pm.
During the fair they park at both high schools and the mall and take shuttle
buses into town. There are six parking structures available each with from 250
to 500 spaces plus numerous surface lots. Every church and business with a lot
is parking people for the fair. Every street is lined with cars. Many people
ride the shuttle bus. There is a bus taking off from the mall, the high
school, and the fair sites every 5 minutes.


<<Bellevue Fair claims their 310,000 people spend $1.4 million, and they
really do know how much is spent, or at least what people write down,
because they charge a 25% commission. That's about $4.50 per person.
Would you think that was a great fair? If 570,000 people spend even
an average of $10 each, that's $5,700,000. Divide that by the number
of booths and see if that sounds reasonable.>>>

Keep in mind that the A2 fairs have over 1000 exhibitors at four locations. A2
has three downtown areas-Main Street, State Street, and South University. Each
has it's own event. I think a number of $1.4 million in sales for Ann Arbor
would be extremely low. The number of exhibitors selling in excess of $10,000
is very high. $30,000 is not unheard of. Average "reported" sales for the
Michigan Guild event are about $5000.

<<Bellevue's figures were correct it would be about one out of 10 people
in the the whole Puget Sound Basin. I don't think so.>>>

People from Ann Arbor do NOT come to the fair. People from Birmingham, Grosse
Point, Dexter, Detroit, Toledo, Texas, Virginia, Chicago, and many other
places come to the fair. There is not a motel room to be found within 50 miles
of the fair during the four days. People who went to school here plan their
vacations around the fair and come back from all over the country.

As hard as it is to believe the figures I still think they are fairly
accurate. I suggest that you take the time to visit the fair. Make your
reservations now. Most of the city is already booked up. Expect to spend a
minimum of two days if you want to see the whole fair. You CAN'T do it in one.

I've lived here since 1966. I did the fair for 22 years. I think I can speak
with some authority as to the accuracy of the numbers.

Kathi LeSueur
Ann Arbor, MI