FEATURED SHOW REVIEWS
FEBRUARY 2008
SOUTH CAROLINA
November 16-18, Craftsmen's Christmas Classic Arts & Crafts Festival, Columbia. Contact: Gilmore Enterprises, Inc., 3514-A Drawbridge Pkwy. C, Greensboro, NC 27410; phone 336-282-5550. E-mail: gilmoreshows@triad.rr.com. Web site: www.craftshow.com. Space fee: $390-$1,245. Space size: 8x10 to 8x30. 100% indoors. Exhibitors: 330. Admission: $7.
Compiled from FastAudit reports
The Columbia Classic is not the Gilmore's highest-ranked show. Their Chantilly fall show and both their Greensboro events consistently are better received. However, FastAudits from this South Carolina show were the most positive of any we've received recently for the Craftsmen's Classics.
Maybe it was a case of lower expectations, for while the Columbia event does routinely make the 200 Best, it doesn't carry the enormous expectations of the promoters' marquee Festivals. And while the average sales figure of our Columbia auditors ($3,500) was consistent with the figure at the latest Greensboro event (see this month's North Carolina report), the overall sales rating (just below an eight, out of ten) came in higher here. And to top that off, 17 of 18 auditors said they would return to the South Carolina State Fairgrounds for another go in 2008.
Mediums ranged from fine art to jewelry to wood to textiles, with most exhibitors' average individual sales coming in at $20-$50. Typical of the positive comments were one jeweler's remarks that "the show sponsors are great [and] the show has potential." In the opposing camp was a glass artist who expressed the concern shared by a few other high-end exhibitors that the Classic was a "too country-craft show."
