As the warm weather begins to return to Phoenix in the month of February, I often like to venture out to local shows in the area. Gold Rush Days, located in Wickenburg, AZ, came across my radar via Craftmaster Magazine. It had some descent reviews and it is not far from home, so I decide to give it a shot. The primary draw for Gold Rush Days in Wickenburg, AZ is the Rodeo event, held on Saturday and Sunday. The numbers state ten of thousands of visitors, and that figure probably seems right for the entire weekend. The art show …

The Gekkards participated in the Southwest Arts Festival for the first time this year. The show setting is the Empire Polo Club located in Indio, CA. The magnificent views surrounding the grounds make it a lovely place to put on an art show. It is not all that easy to get accepted into this show, but after three years of applications, the Gekkards were finally asked to participate. The weather turned out to be perfect for the three day affair, but the results proved to be somewhat unremarkable. My rule of thumb before applying to any show is to research …

The Gekkards kicked off 2011 in Casa Grande, AZ this past weekend at the January Street Fair. I have not participated in this show for a few years, mostly due to taking time off during January. However, it was nice to see the fair has grown and the quality of artist & vendors has improved since my last visit. The weather was perfect and it turned out to be a good choice to start off the year. Setup: The setup at this show is not difficult due to its smaller size. This year, due to my late application, I was …

My second stop on my Midwest tour brought me to Des Moines, IA. “The Other Art Show” is put on at the state fairgrounds, indoors, where the forecast was much better for the weekend than it was for the downtown show located outside. It stormed every night while I was in town, but the daylight hours turned out pretty nice. Setup: The setup required hauling your supplies in through specific doors of the building which made the setup time-consuming, but not difficult. The spaces were at least 10′ x 15′ feet deep. Very generous by art show standards and this …

Minneapolis is a long, long way from home, but the Stone Arch Festival, seated on the banks of the mighty Mississippi river, made that journey worthwhile. This photo was taken from the back of my booth. It was a beautiful view, fortunately, I did not have a lot of time to enjoy it as the booth was busy the entire weekend. Setup: This was relatively easy. I showed up about a half-hour before set-up was to begin. A few artist were already setting up and I joined them. My van was parked about 100 feet from my space, which made …

This show stated 150,00 visitors showed up for the 2009 show on the Zapp application. Unfortunately, the promoters decided to move the show location for 2010. The move resulted in a very poor turnout of customers and left many artist wondering what want wrong. Setup: The check-in and setup was pretty easy for this show. You could pull up near the load-in doors and get started. Vehicles are not allowed inside, but artists were broken up into waves of setup times to keep the congestion to a minimum. The booths were generous in space and allowed for storage behind them. …