Show review - City Arts in Providence by Festival Fete

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above: venus in furs jewelry had a GORGEOUS display & jewelry- total success!

City Arts Festival in Providence August 6 2011- This show is put on by Festival Fete (.com), the same people who ran OOP! in Providence for 20 something years then moved to Dedham. They now closed their shopfront doors and opened the door to a whole bunch of craft shows- The Greenwich Art fest, the Newport Harbor Fest, a Holiday show etc. There's a lot of them. It's a big deal.

PLACE

I jumped in as a guinea pig to do one of the shows that hasn't yet had a review! Scary. I did this because it appeared to be well organized, and it WAS. It was a really well run, well hosted show. It was in the Biltmore Park outdoor ice skating rink, a nice smooth slab of cement in the middle of the City. I concluded that if it did rain (rain or shine show) that at least there wouldn't be mud. There was a Rock n Roll Marathon the next day, so half the city was comprised of athletes looking for something to do after they registered. Awesome. I didnt really think there would be that many athlete shoppers, but I met people from all over the country- CA, IA, VA, MD, IL, CO, the list goes on. They all wanted souvenirs or gifts = super.

bright lights little city, colorful display, super gal

DETAILS

I'll get to the show nitty gritty now- check in was easy, they gave us coffee and doughnuts or some edible thing from Dunkin Donuts I don't remember because I already ate.

They also gave us a GOODY BAG! Mine had a fake wooden snake, snacks- lots of snacks, and more toys. Seriously. Fabulous.

All day, they had people walking around asking if I needed to make change$ or needed more water. As much water as I could drink. They also carried around a basket of snacks all day. Would you like more popcorn? Also, they had sponsor trucks- one was from the bank giving our FREE ice cream ALL DAY. Yes. And a game near check in where you spin the wheel and win stuff- I won a water bottle and something I dont remember.

Stuff like this THRILLS me to no end.

They had Big Nazo puppets entertaining and a kids craft table. There was probably more stuff happening too, but as a vendor, you don't always see everything that's going on because your in a 10x10 space all day.

click image to view larger via flickr

WHO

My friend Cindy came to help me out and hang out- which is always a plus. THANK YOU CINDY! It was a blast, Shes a natural at selling and I put her to work right away, finding fresh crepes from a vendor and wrangling in buyers, and handling the archaic credit card machine. I also had my trusty craft show man, John- who ended up running 14 miles around Providence (literally), its our old stomping grounds. He was a happy camper- runner.

OVERALL

The show was busy all day. It was a glorious, if not a way too sunny day. I had a lot of chatty buyers, who seemed genuinely interested in my work. I sold all the best pieces right away- HOORAY! It was exhausting, because there's a tent to put up and take down. It was worth it. I would totally do another Festival Fete show.

If you found this review helpful, let me know in the comments!