FEATURED SHOW REVIEWS
August 2008
NEW JERSEY
May 31
– June 1, Spring Fine Art & Crafts at Nomahegan Park, Cranford.
Contact: Janet Rose, Rose Squared Productions Inc., 12 Galaxy Court,
Hillsborough, NJ 08844; phone 908-874-5247, fax 908-874-7098. E-mail:
rosesquared@patmedia.net. Web site: www.rosesquared.com. Space fee: $325-$645. Space size:
10x12 to 10x24. Exhibitors: 100. Hours: 10-5.
By Shoshana Matthews
Maryland Reporter
E-mail: shoshana@handwovens.biz
Medium:
Fiber
This was a first-time show for me, and I have to say I’m extremely impressed with the promoters. Janet and Howard Rose certainly know how to treat their artists and how to promote a show. Many of the exhibitors came to me during the weekend to tell me how wonderful these people are, and I believe it. They have a loyal following among the artists and the public.
The Show was held in a very nice park near a small lake. Setup and teardown were pretty easy. Most of us could pull right up to our booth spaces, which meant no hauling. That was a nice treat.
There was a good mix of fine art, fine craft and craft — something for just about everyone. Booth spaces were generous enough to allow us to roll up our tent sides if we wanted to. And crowds were fairly steady but light on Saturday, and steady and heavy on Sunday.
The only real fly in this ointment was the weather. Mother Nature, as I’ve said before, has a really perverse sense of humor. She reserves the worst of the weather for the weekends. Saturday dawned cloudy, and the forecasts were for heavy thunderstorms, possible tornadoes and other dire things throughout this part of New Jersey and into New York. I think many patrons stayed away on Saturday because of this. My husband stayed in the hotel room to get his own work done and had the radar maps up on his computer screen. He kept us updated by phone all day as to where the storms were and how severe they looked. Fortunately, Cranford got only an hour or so of heavy rain Saturday afternoon. The rest of the really nasty stuff went around us. The Roses kept us informed all day by sending runners around with weather forecasts so we knew what to expect.
Crowds disappeared when the rain started but came back after it stopped. The biggest problem was that this park is apparently notorious for drainage problems, and, after the rain, many booths were sitting in swampland. Several booths had to be moved on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, as they were totally inaccessible because of the mud. The Roses provided moving help to lots of people. They laid straw down and put traffic cones around the worst spots, but some of the swampiness continued throughout Sunday.
As for sales, although Saturday’s crowd was light, I saw a lot of packages being carried out. Many artists, however, did not make back their expenses. I saw fewer packages being carried on Sunday, despite the steady crowds, but there were obviously sales being made. In the survey I did of about a third of the artists present, 20 percent were very unhappy and didn’t make expenses, 20 percent were ecstatic about their sales, and 60 percent said sales were adequate or acceptable, but not great. I was happy with my sales ($2,300 total/$200 average item sold), but I have nothing with which to compare it. Although that total was fairly low for me, it was still one of my better shows so far this year. I’ll definitely be back next year and want to try more of the Rose Squared shows also.
Editor’s note: An auditor agreed with our reporter and rated all categories except weather and attendance highly, despite making only $750. The exhibitor, who offered items in a variety of mediums, said the Show was well managed. “[The] Roses are great people with which to work,” he/she said. “[The] sponsors’ focus was on [the] artists.” The auditor blamed poor sales on the weather and the economy.
