Artist Trunk Show Experience

The third annual Artist Trunk Show held on Saturday, June 18, in Tipp City, Ohio is the second such event I've attended. The first was the Dayton Art Trunk Show two weeks earlier. This event echoed the first in several aspects, the first being that  neither I nor my friend and fellow artist, Cindra, sold any paintings.

The Tipp City event benefited from a good turnout of vendors, most of whom offered paintings for sale. A handful offered other products: turned wooden pens, handwoven garments, bead jewelry, etc. Despite my love of sparkly things, I saw nothing among the jewelry that I had to have. One of the artists closed up shop early in the afternoon, a shame because I wanted to buy one of her paintings.

The Tipp City event wasn't as well organized as the Dayton event. I and another artist we know contacted—or attempted to contact—the organizer, but she failed to respond to both telephone and email inquiries. Luckily for me, she did confirm Cindra's registration, so we went together.

The event occurred in conjunction with Vintage in the Village which was held in downtown Tipp City. That, according to my friend's conversations with some of the vendors, was well-attended, but the people attending were disinclined to buy. The current bear market is having a decided and budget-straitening effect.

We lucked out with regard to the weather. After a sweltering week of high temperatures and high humidity, Mother Nature blessed us with refreshing breezes, comfortable temperatures, and blue skies. 

Interestingly, I sold several books. (Hey, literature is an art.) I sold only two at the Dayton event, which made the Tipp City event a better return on my investment of time and effort. Cindra and I both noticed (and commented on) the steady trickle of pedestrian traffic that wandered through the event which was sited about three blocks from downtown. The Dayton event didn't get much at all in the way of pedestrian traffic.

Signage for both events could have been better. However, both events are free, so organizers would have had to dig into their own pockets to pay for signage. The Tipp City event benefited from marketing via social media and two mentions in the local newspaper.

While Cindra and I sold no paintings at either event, the book sales were sufficient for me to consider returning to the Tipp City Artist Trunk Show next year. It also proved my hypothsis that book sales do better with less competition of a similar kind. I was the only vendor at the event selling books.

On Saturday, June 25, I'll be at the North Coast Indie Author Book Expo in Elyria, Ohio. If you're around northeast Ohio, I'd love to see you there!