Wednesday Rant

This week’s rant is on the level of “You’ve GOT to be kidding me!” See, this year (and in year’s past) Mayfair Festival of the Arts has been going through some pains. First they gated the festival, then they just about went bankrupt, they went quite a few changes in their leadership ranks, attendance plummeted, sales were down, and attrition amongst artisans and food vendors was high. So this year they decided to have a meeting of the artisans to see what went wrong and how to fix it…

First, they held the meeting on a Tuesday, at 3pm. Now I brought up the fact that I felt that this time and date was exclusionary, but hey, it’s only my perception. I mean, if I was holding a meeting for a group of people who may or may not have day jobs to sustain themselves, a Tuesday at 3pm isn’t when I would hold it to get the most attendance. I mean either you have a day job and can’t come, or your are a full time artisan and producing things is your day job and you can’t come. It was also held two days before the set up for one of the Valley’s longest and most grueling places to be a vendor- Musikfest. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think they REALLY wanted to hear from us.

Second, I can’t believe the crappy agenda. I mean they get dozens of after show surveys from artists and they admitted they read them. Then go through, pick out the good and bad points and be sure you touch upon them. Not this free form meeting. I mean, is it just the project manager in me that has enough sense to actually be able to run a meeting in a logical way? Maybe I am in the wrong job and I need to start producing craft shows. Yikes!

And the silly questions! “Do other shows warn you of the weather, how do they do it, and what do they say?” WHAT! Are these intelligent people running this? I wouldn’t admit this question even if I had it, it makes you look totally incompetent. Let’s see... a NOAH radio? What, $40 at Radio Shack and a few AAA batteries? I mean I have one I often bring to small shows that I don’t trust for this info, I didn’t bring it this year and I should have. My bad. I learned it is now packed for EVERY show, regardless.

And my final rant is my HUGE disappointment in the local crafting community. They clam the invitation was sent to almost 40 local artisans and only two showed up, and only one of us is still a full time craftsperson and planning to maybe attend the show again next year. We all can bitch and moan to each other, we all can bitch and moan on paper in surveys, but when it comes to having a forum, obviously we shrink away and do not want to make changes, we as a community want to make excuses. So you don’t plan on coming back, who cares, help your community by giving just a few hours to make a local event better. Look at the big picture, maybe if this show was better, others in the area would grow, and we can stop traveling like crazy and spending huge money on gas, tolls, and hotels, just to find decent shows. Makes me sick that only two showed up. Just sick.