A Festival’s Footprint The Logistics Behind the Layout
The Art & Apples Festival has taken place in Rochester Municipal Park since 1965. This can be a unique setup for some artists, as they can often be setting up on a grassy, non-flat surface. Small imperfections should be expected when setting up a tent in a park like ours.
The 30-acre park provides ample room for our 280 artists to set up. Accepted artists can purchase a single (11 x11) or double (22 x 11) booth.
All booths come with an additional 4 feet in the back for storage, bringing the total space to 11 x 15 and 22 x 15. Storage space should not be utilized to create a larger display space.
First priority for booth location is given to artists who were jury exempt from the prior year, based on their score during the on-site jurying. Next choice goes to the artists who scored the highest during the jurying of their applications each year, then becomes available to each lower score down the list within the availability.
We keep an eye on this to also make sure artists are not taking over spots from other longtime participants. Many of our vendors who have attended for several years tell us they have a customer base that looks for their specific location, so moving them too far would not be ideal.
We have a limited number of double and corner spaces. We have roughly 310 spaces that we can fill and typically accept between 265 and 285 artists to fit into these spaces.
The priority for double and corner booths is determined in the same method used to determine specific booth locations —jury exempt artists first, then the highest scoring applicants from the new applications for that year.
Finding Balance
With the park being as large as it is, it is not too difficult for us to keep a good balance of different mediums spread throughout the festival space. Splitting up 280 artists across 16 mediums gives us roughly 18 artists per category.
After jurying is complete, artists’ scores are compared within their mediums. So, artists in a category like clay or jewelry could get a high score but still not be accepted due to the high number of applications for those mediums. An artist in glass or printmaking may be able to get in with a lower juror score since those categories are less competitive.
This year’s deadline to purchase a booth is July 21, so notifications of booth locations go out in early August. Artists unhappy with their location are handled on a case-by-case basis.
There is not a lot of room to make adjustments unless other artists drop out due to certain circumstances, so they may be waiting for a more ideal location to be confirmed later. We do not accommodate artists who request a relocation upon arrival, as it causes a great deal of chaos in the festival’s overall organization.
We have made many adjustments to our show based on artists’ feedback, including adding new artist amenities and permanently adjusting our festival hours since 2023. We have not made any such adjustments to the layout in recent years — though we have reviewed the layout with our local Department of Public Works and a surveyor many times.
Food, Activities, Music
Food vendors are in a few different places throughout the festival. They are always separated from artist booths by various pathways in the park to help ensure that food lines do not interfere with artists.
Sponsors are also located separately from artists and must agree not to sell at our show. They can sell services like fitness center memberships or set up sales appointments, such as with home improvement companies. But businesses who are not artists are not permitted to sell physical goods. Buy/sell is also not allowed at our show.
The Kid's Art Zone is at the end of our final artist path, so it is not a distraction from artists. Many attendees need to walk by to see the art available on their way to the Kids Zone.
While our music stage is a big draw for our community, there is a clear divide from the music stage and the artists, with a row of food trucks separating them on one end and Paint Creek Center for the Arts separating them to the south.
One great thing about being in Rochester Municipal Park is that there is no bad place to be located. The upper section is larger. The lower section is more spread out while also catching people entering from the shuttle bus drop-off. Having multiple points of entry allows artists to catch potential customers who enter from every direction.
