Festival - Art Show Booths

Having a fixed retail location is not always enough. So small businesses don't even have that. Some sell exclusively via the internet market place, and some utilize the thousands of shows around the country every year. The art festivals and fairs, are an excellent way to get huge exposure. The fees for these shows vary greatly, for a few hundred to a few thousand. The run from a weekend up to several months. Whichever you choose, it is imperative that your look your best. Better than your direct competition. People do judge a box by its cover, that is why marketing works so well. And this to completely true with POS (Point Of Sale). Your display has to be bright and professional, and you the seller has to be happy and welcoming (even if you have not sold a thing for days). I always hear the grumpy exhibitors complaining they are not doing well and why . Our general observations on that are, worn out aged displays, poor lighting, not staffed, and miserable sales staff. You have to package it correctly.

In, come us. We are always tasked to build, install and revamp temporary or mobile sales booths. Specially during late spring. Laguna Beach is famous for the FOA (Festival Of Arts) and the Sawdust Festival. The FOA is a high end show which like the Sawdust runs for July and August each year. All art media is represented in both. The Sawdust being more crafty. The images are a selection of these booths, that range from a wall and lights, to a full solid waterproof enclosure. Most weekend shows, which are found country wide, usually have a ten foot by ten foot space allocation. They may supply an commercial style tent or you may have to erect your own. The paintings can be hung on the tent frame or mobile walls can be erected and used as a more solid approach. The Jewelry vendors usually use a system like Dynamic Displays, which are pop up style, flat pack, casework. Light, thus cheap and easy to ship. Or they have someone like us build them some custom units.

On site assembly can be chaotic at times. The Sawdust festival, is very tightly packed with several hundred exhibitors. Some building their own booths, many using different contractors. Some of the booths reaching fourteen feet in the air, and having a eight foot by ten foot, foot print. The only place for you to work and have your tools and materials, is the walkways. These get clogged up very quickly. Tension can get high especially when you consider the small build windows.

All systems have to meet local codes. Code officials walk around checking things out all the time. This is a good idea, as when these shows are open, they can get thousands of people interacting with the displays and booths.

Lighting makes a huge difference in these shows. Many of the shows run late into the evening, where ambient lighting gets very marginal. So adding some LED style lights are a great option, especially if there is no mains electric available. Because LED use very little power, you can run a decent size system on a car battery for days. One of our Jewelry booth lighting clients, had an excellent two months at the FOA this year, and swears it was because of the new LED light bars we installed in June.

We always enjoy the festival scene, all the hustle and bustle of the build and then of the people milling around looking at the offerings.