Show Review of the Month Lakeshore Art Festival
June 25-26, 2022, Lakeshore Art Festival, Muskegon, MI. Contact: Carla Flanders, City of Muskegon, 933 Terrace St., Muskegon, MI 49440; Phone: 231-724-6705; Email: info@lakeshoreartfestival.org; Website: www.lakeshoreartfestival.org; Application fee: $35; Space fees: $180 to $250; 100% outdoors; Exhibitors: 350.
Compiled from FastAudit reports
The Lakeshore Art Festival is held in downtown Muskegon, Michigan. This event features hundreds of juried fine art and specialty craft exhibitors, as well as a Children’s Lane, an artisan food market, street performers, and interactive art stations. The artists who reviewed this festival gave it high marks.
A wood artist who made $1,200 at the event said, “This has been my best show of the year.” The artist would participate again because the “area is beautiful, and the attendance is very good. Most people come to buy.”
An artist whose mediums were arts and crafts, as well as fiber arts, reported $985 in sales. “It is very well attended, and customers expect a good product,” said the artist who would do the show again.
An arts and crafts artist who did not report a sales total would also like to be invited back.
Sales for one jewelry artist totaled $1,400. “Well run,” said this artist who would participate again.
Photo courtesy of Lakeshore Art Festival
Photo courtesy of Lakeshore Art Festival
Post-Show Report
Carla Flanders said this year’s Lakeshore Art Festival was a success. “It was the festival’s first year back ‘full throttle’ post-COVID-19,” she said. “The weather was perfect, and guests came out to support this annual event. We had 262 fine artists, crafters, and authors; 22 food booths; 15 children and interactive activities; and 20 street performers at the event.”
Flanders, the festival’s director, estimated attendance at 25,000. “Overall, sales were good, with a majority of the exhibitors making between $1,000 to $5,000,” she said.
She shared what some of the artists liked best about the festival, which included the location, staff, parking, setup, teardown, volunteers, layout, spacious booths, volunteers, marketing, weather, attendance, and sales.
Flanders said something they learn at every show is “that no matter what time we end the show, things slow down at least two hours before that time. This year, we added a community activity to drive guests down the last two hours of the show. We would like to expand on that for next year.”
She said the best improvement made this year that others might learn from was that they did more marketing and advertising for the show. It was noticed by exhibitors and guests, Flanders said.
Her message to those considering the show is that “this event has been a tradition in downtown Muskegon for over 60 years. It has a strong following with generations of guests enjoying the experience, shopping, and exploring all the fine art and crafts. We do a significant amount of advertising, no buy/sell products, juried artist awards, and people’s choice awards. We continue to enhance and improve on the event through our surveys and feedback from both guests and exhibitors.”