Practically In My Backyard

I'm happy to report that my neighborhood now has a nice art festival! This past weekend was the 2nd Annual Downtown Silver Spring Fine Art Festival. I avoid any show whose name starts with "1st Annual" and the reports I heard from other artists last year ranged from "I lost money" to "surprisingly good." I thought the art in last year's show was of good quality, even though the sales were not good for everybody. That's the one thing that would have stopped me from applying ... if there was junk or cheesy crap in the show. Given it's location within walking distance from my house, and my current push to do more art festivals and preferably local, I decided it was worth a shot. This area of Silver Spring is packed with pedestrian traffic on any weekend, and there are special events here two or three times a month. So I knew there would be lots of people, but were they interested in pottery? Whenever I do a show for the first time, I try not to have any expectations for sales. But I did have a benchmark for a sales amount that would trigger me to apply for the show again next year, which I surpassed by almost $500. Hooray for my hometown!