The 115th Arden Fair is in the books. And it was a good one. From what I hear, one of the best in terms of income for the Arden Club. Here are some notes:
 
Thanks to all members of the AAC who volunteer in whatever capacity for the fair. From set-up to food service to children's games. You make our community a great place to be.
 
Special thanks to Mhairi and Stuart Craig and Katrina Nelson who spearheaded the craft market. It is a big task, and they did a great job keeping the event organized and running smoothly. Also thanks to Dave Reese, Chris Day and crew who helped direct crafter traffic as we set up booths. Things went so much more smoothly this year. (I thought so anyway.)
 
Recognition goes out to artist Linda Celestian for another successful Arden Fair T-shirt design. It sold well, from all evidence.  Linda is also responsible for the Back Stage gallery during the fair. She helps get it ready. Gets the artists who participate and spells them for breaks.
 
Big shout out to Janet Williams who had 90ish paintings on display and sold 24 (?—My numbers are soft, but they are in the ballpark). It is possible that, thanks to her success, future artists will be paying 10% commission to the Arden Club. With numbers like that, 10% seems reasonable. What do you think?
 
This brings me to the Arden Artisan Collective Booth. Much appreciation to Micah Altman (Was this your first Arden Fair?) and Rachel Kantner who managed the booth from beginning to end with some help from Betty O’Regan. I believe they had 7-8 artists displaying, managed a crew of volunteers, took care of display hardware and linens, and dealt with the financial aspect. (The AAC paid for the $40 booth fee, but, like the Arden Club, collected 10% from the sales). The booth sales were about $800 which is similar to last year’s take from our raffles. Also, the AAC received a $50 donation. 

Thanks to the day's volunteers who took all internet glitches in stride, engaged the public and facilitated sales. Barbara Macklem, Shay Seaborne, David Gerbec, Megan King, Elaine Hickey, Jeanne Orr, Cecilia Vore, Alida Fish, and Lee Hoover.
 
Some takeaways that the crew had for future AAC booth: Restrict number of artists to 5 or have multiple booths. This would mean that we would know exactly how many would participate before June. It was a great way for artists who don’t have enough for a full booth to participate in the fair and get the word out about AAC, but we need booth flow and enough room for each artist to shine. Also, we need one device for point of sale rather than each volunteer needing to sign into account at every shift. The internet was spotty enough without adding that degree of difficulty.
 
Lastly, I want to highlight Will Ramirez. Will is an artist who had a booth down from Mhairi and Stewart. He is a newish resident to Arden and didn’t know about the Arden Artisan Collective. I’ve invited Will to present at our Arden Artist Social, and he has agreed. We are still looking for 2-4 more artists to present new work and show what you are doing. Email me at ardenartisan@gmail.com. The social is on September 26 at 7:00 PM at the Buzz Ware Village Center.
 

*Congratulations to Joanna Morris, first time Arden Fair attendee from Drexel Hill, who won the gift basket we were giving away. Joanna teaches lapidary. It’s cool that a jeweler won the prize. Thanks to Micah Altman who collected the prizes and put together an attractive basket. Attractive is what we were going for--we used it to attract people to give us email addresses for future marketing endeavors including our Small Art Show and Winter Market coming up at the Buzz in December. Thank you, too, to all the artists who contributed. I know that artists get asked for donations all the time, so it is no small gift that you give.