Waterfront Invitational
Saturday, July 6, 2019
10 am - 5 pm Cook Park Corner of Butler and Culver Streets, Saugatuck |
Village Square
Saturday, July 27, 2019
10 am - 5 pm Village Square Corner of Butler and Main Streets, Saugatuck |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. You cashed my check. Does that mean I've been accepted for the fair?
A. No. We have to cash checks when we receive them, or shortly thereafter, to be sure that we have received the funds. Believe it or not, artists and craftspeople have been known to send in NSF (not sufficient funds) checks to art fairs. Once we get the funds we hold them till we jury the applications, which takes place in April. If you are accepted, we send you notification then. If what you paid is more than the amount of rental for your space we will refund that amount by the time of the fair. If you haven't been accepted, we will refund your application amount (minus the nonrefundable application fee).
Q. Why do I have to park in the art club designated lot while I am a vendor at your fair?
A. This is a very small town and parking downtown is always at a premium during our fairs, which are held on two of our busiest weekends. The parking downtown, whether on the street or in a private lot, is where your customers will have to park. Many customers also park in offsite parking. If you park downtown, you'll have fewer customers, and it's disrespectful to the merchants and citizens who are our neighbors. We provide free shuttles, and we monitor your compliance to this rule.
Q. Why can't I send photographs on paper for you to jury?
A. Our jurying process involves showing digital images to our jury members using a projector. The same images are printed and used by our auditors to make sure that your work and that of other artists and craftspeople shown at our fairs are the same kind of material as was sent in at the time of the application. We'll accept paper photographs, but we need an extra $10 for the time and effort it takes us to scan and process the photographs.
Q. What's a good size for digital images for your jury?
A. A common size our applicants provide is 2700 x 1800 pixels (9” x 6” at 300 pixels per inch). Extremely small digital images can’t be juried -- we can't really see them, and your work doesn't look as good to our jury members as it could.
Q. Can I rent a double booth? If so, how much do I pay?
A. We are happy to consider your application for a double booth. We will accommodate such applications if we can. As we advise vendors seeking other specific booth choices, applying early is your best strategy. If you want two booths, send us twice the amount you'd send for a single booth.
Q. I'm a jeweler and I would like to show at your fairs. Any advice?
A. We always receive many more applications for jewelers than we receive for any other art or craft, and we always receive many more applications than we have spaces available for that category. We limit the number of jewelers we admit to each of our fairs to a set percentage of the total. Keeping that limit makes better business for the vendors we do admit. Our approach has been to try to select representative vendors from each of the subcrafts that make up jewelry -- such as lampwork, metalsmithing, etc -- so the customer is presented with a variety of choices. We select the jewelers for both fairs right after our deadline, April 1, so we recommend jewelers get applications in by our deadline to be considered.
Q. Do you have any advice for people who want to man their booth alone?
A. Yes. Don't do it. We're a small organization. We can't provide extensive help loading and unloading. We can't provide booth-sitting services -- our liability insurance just doesn't cover us on that. Unloading, moving your vehicle off to remote parking, manning a booth, tearing down a booth, retrieving your vehicle and loading can be a lot of work. It takes at least two people to do it. Find someone else to help you among your circle of friends and relatives.
A. No. We have to cash checks when we receive them, or shortly thereafter, to be sure that we have received the funds. Believe it or not, artists and craftspeople have been known to send in NSF (not sufficient funds) checks to art fairs. Once we get the funds we hold them till we jury the applications, which takes place in April. If you are accepted, we send you notification then. If what you paid is more than the amount of rental for your space we will refund that amount by the time of the fair. If you haven't been accepted, we will refund your application amount (minus the nonrefundable application fee).
Q. Why do I have to park in the art club designated lot while I am a vendor at your fair?
A. This is a very small town and parking downtown is always at a premium during our fairs, which are held on two of our busiest weekends. The parking downtown, whether on the street or in a private lot, is where your customers will have to park. Many customers also park in offsite parking. If you park downtown, you'll have fewer customers, and it's disrespectful to the merchants and citizens who are our neighbors. We provide free shuttles, and we monitor your compliance to this rule.
Q. Why can't I send photographs on paper for you to jury?
A. Our jurying process involves showing digital images to our jury members using a projector. The same images are printed and used by our auditors to make sure that your work and that of other artists and craftspeople shown at our fairs are the same kind of material as was sent in at the time of the application. We'll accept paper photographs, but we need an extra $10 for the time and effort it takes us to scan and process the photographs.
Q. What's a good size for digital images for your jury?
A. A common size our applicants provide is 2700 x 1800 pixels (9” x 6” at 300 pixels per inch). Extremely small digital images can’t be juried -- we can't really see them, and your work doesn't look as good to our jury members as it could.
Q. Can I rent a double booth? If so, how much do I pay?
A. We are happy to consider your application for a double booth. We will accommodate such applications if we can. As we advise vendors seeking other specific booth choices, applying early is your best strategy. If you want two booths, send us twice the amount you'd send for a single booth.
Q. I'm a jeweler and I would like to show at your fairs. Any advice?
A. We always receive many more applications for jewelers than we receive for any other art or craft, and we always receive many more applications than we have spaces available for that category. We limit the number of jewelers we admit to each of our fairs to a set percentage of the total. Keeping that limit makes better business for the vendors we do admit. Our approach has been to try to select representative vendors from each of the subcrafts that make up jewelry -- such as lampwork, metalsmithing, etc -- so the customer is presented with a variety of choices. We select the jewelers for both fairs right after our deadline, April 1, so we recommend jewelers get applications in by our deadline to be considered.
Q. Do you have any advice for people who want to man their booth alone?
A. Yes. Don't do it. We're a small organization. We can't provide extensive help loading and unloading. We can't provide booth-sitting services -- our liability insurance just doesn't cover us on that. Unloading, moving your vehicle off to remote parking, manning a booth, tearing down a booth, retrieving your vehicle and loading can be a lot of work. It takes at least two people to do it. Find someone else to help you among your circle of friends and relatives.