Show Review of the Month Art in the Park
Art in the Park
Location: Lake Odessa, MI
Date: Aug. 3, 2024
Contact: Lake Odessa Area Arts Commission
Website: lakeodessaarts.com
Email: info@lakeodessaarts.com
Phone: 616-755-0084
Venue: 100% outdoors
Space fees: $60 to $75
Exhibitors: 110
Attendance estimate: 4,000 to 5,000
COMPILED FROM FASTAUDIT REVIEWS
Art in the Park is a one-day festival filled with art, food, and entertainment. All the artists who reviewed 2024’s festival said they would participate again.
One exhibitor said, “Good show and lots of customers.”
Another vendor made close to $400 and described it as a well-done and well-attended festival.
An arts and crafts artist who made about $450 said, “The volunteers helped more at this show than any other show I’ve been to. It was very well organized. Sales would’ve been better if it wasn’t as hot outside.”
An exhibitor whose sales totaled about $180 said, “It’s a great show — just needs some work with loading and unloading.”
A fiber/textile/leather artist who had $475 in sales would return because, “We are treated well at this event.”
SHOW PROMOTER’S SELF‑REVIEW
Meg Hermes said this year’s Art in the Park was a success. “We were able to showcase a well-rounded variety of arts and crafts in many different genres,” she said.
She is chairperson of the Lake Odessa Area Arts Commission, the show’s promoter. Hermes said feedback was gathered from the public from comment card boxes placed throughout the park.
Comments were overwhelmingly positive, with few criticisms or suggestions for improvement. “Visitors also seemed to really enjoy the live musical entertainment we provided throughout the day,” she said.
Attendance was estimated at 4,000 to 5,000. Hermes said turnout may have been lower than previous years due to high afternoon temperatures.
What Artists Said
Of the written responses received from artists, 91% gave them a Highly Satisfied rating. “Many of them complimented us on how our show is highly organized and professional, and they commended us for having very friendly, helpful, and attentive staff and volunteers,” she said. “We did have a few artists tell us their sales were down somewhat from past years, but they attributed that to high temps, which may have caused attendance to drop off in the afternoon.”
What the Promoter Learned
The vendors selling snack-type foods like kettle corn and roasted nuts reported their sales suffer when they are placed amongst the food vendors selling regular meal items and requested to be placed amongst the artists and crafters as a way to boost sales, Hermes said.
Their Best Improvement
She said the best improvement this year was assigning artists in advance to three, two-hour check-in/load-in time slots. “This was a huge improvement and helped us to eliminate some of the chaos that we experienced in past years during load-in,” Hermes said. “This is a change that we plan to keep in place moving forward.”
Her message to those considering this festival is, “Our show is held in a quaint small town in a beautiful park setting. We go to great lengths to ensure that our artists have a great experience at our show, from providing printed booth cards for each artist, a vendor packet at the time of check-in, load-in and load-out assistance, complimentary coffee and donuts the morning of the show, and volunteers delivering water to artists during the day.”
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