2003 Atlanta Dogwood Festival

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="05bfd5a3.jpg"> <div> <B>Atlanta Dogwood Festival</B></div> <div> <B>347-LOVE-ART  (347-568-3278)   Toll Free 1-877-512-3333</B><B>    Email: </B><A HREF="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com"><U><B>mike@mikealbin.com</B></U></A></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="05cd2043.jpg"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mike Albin.Com "><U>Mike Albin.Com </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="wd.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Web design"><U>Web design</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="ma.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marketing Articles"><U>Marketing Articles</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="sr.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Show Reviews"><U>Show Reviews</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mt.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marketing Tools"><U>Marketing Tools</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="l.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#777777" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> 2003 Atlanta Dogwood Festival</div> <div> April 11-13, 67th Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival, Piedmont Park, Midtown Atlanta.  Contact: ADF, 20 executive Park Drive, Suite 2019, Atlanta, Ga. 30329.  404-329-0501.  Email: dogwood2@mindspring.com. </div> <div> This is a three day show in the heart of downtown Atlanta.  It rained all week before the show, including set-up.  Friday the weather cleared up and people responded by coming out in droves. Saturday and Sunday the weather was perfect and attendance actually exceeded expectations.  Last years attendance was estimated at 300,000 and this year was over 400,000.  You know you are at a crowded show when you don't have enough time to leave your booth and walk to the hospitality tent to take advantage of the free lunch provided by the show.  I talked to a few artists who were closer to the tent who said the lunch served, sandwiches from Publix, were good.  There was also a very nice awards dinner Friday night.  They really treat artists very well at this show.</div> <div> Set-up was easy and well organized. You had a choice of setting up Wednesday or Thursday or on Friday morning.  All the booths are on a circular street in the park with a huge well-maintained field in the middle.  There was room for storage behind most tents and for chairs across a narrow street although we did get much time to sit.  The quality of artwork here was excellent and well balanced.  Printed programs made it easy for the public to find their favorite artist.  </div> <div> This was our first time at this show and we had heard from many veterans that Friday and Saturday would be pretty slow but don't get discouraged, the buyers come on Sunday.   There were plenty of people out on Friday but most artists I spoke with said sales were light.  Saturday was a different story for some. A photographer I spoke with said he had his third best show of the year on Saturday and a glass artist I saw restocking Sunday morning said he was making a killing. </div> <div> We had a pretty good Saturday selling 5 pieces with an average ticket of $500.00.  We left thinking if we do well on Sunday this will be a great show.  </div> <div> Sunday for us was not good, it was one of those days where we were sooo close to 4-5 really nice sales and just could not close.  We did have one nice sale which helped but we left thinking of what could have been and hope to get calls from "be-backs."  This was just one of those times when "it wasn't our day" but we will be back next year.  The potential for sales here is very high and most artists we talked to did very well.  </div> <div> The photographer next to us, a four year veteran of the show, said sales for him were about the same as last year and he was very happy.  A mixed media artist with work in the $200.00- $600.00 range and also a veteran of the show said sales were slightly ahead of their last show there.  An upscale wood worker said he had a good show but was helped out by one $3000.00 sale to boost his total.  </div> <div> By and large most artists I spoke with later in the day on Sunday had very nice things to say about the show, sales and staff.  The weather was as good as it gets for an outdoor art show.   </div> <div> One interesting note about this show is they encourage people to bring their dogs to the park.  Dogs in all shapes and sizes in mass, walking with their owners up and down the street.  It's very entertaining and I lost count of the times we said " Wow, look at that one!"</div> </td> </tr></table></body>