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Show Review Archives > 2010 > FEBRUARY
 

September 25-27, Plaza Art Fair, Kansas City

Compiled from FastAudit reports

 

Held annually at the Country Club Plaza, the country's oldest outdoor shopping mall, the Plaza Art Fair turned 78 in 2009, making it one of the three oldest continuously run fine art events in the nation. With that kind of tradition, it's no wonder the show keeps placing so high in the 200 Best and keeps garnering the praise that it does.

Auditor totals were down a bit this time, from $9,067 in 2008 to $6,190 in 2009. However, that doesn't mean much statistically because not all auditors gave a total. One painter, for instance, simply described sales as good, rating them an eight out of 10. And if you look at that artist's average sale price ($1,800), you can get a sense of just how good totals can be for some exhibitors at the Plaza. (The average-item price for all auditors was a very healthy $630, up from $225 in 2008.)

Sales pulled in a rating of six (out of 10) while both attendance and quality got nines. All other categories got eights or higher.

"Great show! We humbly hope to get in again," said a photographer ($6,500 total sales/$40 average item sold).

"Great buying crowd," echoed a mixed media artist ($24,000/$1,500). And no wonder, considering that exhibitor's total, which was the highest among all our auditors.

"Even though hours [are] way too long - until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday - this show gets [an] art-savvy, educated and wealthy, art-loving crowd. I'd return if I can get back in."

And therein lies one of the only drawbacks of this show: It's tough to get into. But that's a nice problem to have if you're the promoters, as it means you're getting lots of applications and can, therefore, keep quality high. The only drawback besides the grueling hours and competitiveness that auditors mentioned this time was the music.

"They put food booths in the middle [near] a large stage that played too loud of music," said an SA secret auditor. "Some of the music was not good for the venue, but more appropriate for a music festival than an art festival. Artists on the other street, which had a smaller stage and jazz playing, seemed to do much better than the ones by the big stage."

Still, the exhibitor plans to come back, as do virtually all our auditors. "Attendance was very good at this event," the auditor concluded. "It seemed like the whole city was there."