Ghoultide Gathering

I’ve been to Ghoultide Gathering 3X: including the most recent year at Mill Race Village in October 2011. The growth of the crowds at the show has been phenomenal. This is a wonderful slice of art life and view into a unique category of art made by true artisans. The passion of the collectors makes the atmosphere electric. The dedication of the artists and their commitment to their craft is heart warming. That many of them put on costumes or personas adds to the atmosphere. They go all out.
The ambiance of the show grounds are amazing. The organizers put just enough extra decorations around the Village to create a unique, slightly twisted environment. It’s like stepping into an alternate ‘halloween’ reality. It’s wonderful, and awe-​inspiring. I love it!
People line up early to make sure they can purchase their favorite artists’ work. I know some people were in line at 11AM Friday for a 6PM start of the Friday Early Sale. This was the first year for a two day sale, and it gave many people two chances to be early in line for two artists /​locations. That’s an improvement in my eyes.
The two-​day show also allowed the Friday attendees free admission to Saturday. I talked to people who had flown in to the show. They are serious collectors!
Yes, this art show attracts serious collectors. Any good look at the artists web sites before the show would tell that these are fine art pieces, made one at a time and sold at art-​prices. Not craft-​prices. Not manufactured. There’s a limit to what these artists can make by hand, so the supply is limited. Price goes up. As an artist myself (not in this field, or a participant here) I think that’s a good thing. Many f these artists license their work and it is available at lower price points at local /​independent gift stores
Because the demand is growing, sellouts occur. That’s part of the excitement! NO one should expect to come at the end of the show and see all the pieces on tables. That would mean the artists didn’t sell anything or have to go home and ship it all. People like to take away what they’ve purchased. It’s a art show with an arc: busy, frenzied at first, then mellowing out as the day goes on.
This is one of those events that says «Fall» to me. If you just want to window shop, you’ll have a good time. If you want to buy something, do research on the artists in the show and get in line early.
Either way, it’s AWESOME!

As much as it pains me to give this (potentially) extremely cool art show only two stars, the negatives actually overshadowed the terrific artwork and charming location. We drove over from Chicago, thinking that we could hit the Friday night opening, see all the goodies, and add to our growing stash of Halloween art before spending the rest of the weekend with my parents.
The setting in Mill Race Village is perfect — historic buildings, leaves and straw crunching underfoot. But as soon as we were in, the Friday Night Early Buy was baffling — we paid quadruple the «normal» admission fee to come on Friday night and see LESS ART. We arrived barely an hour after the show started, paid nearly $ 100 admission for the four of us, and several of the artists’ displays were already half empty. When I asked about it, they said they «had to hold back some stock for Saturday.» Soooo… OK. What was the point of the «Early Buy»? If we hadn’t had plans for Saturday, we could have gone THEN and spent just $ 20 admission for all four of us. I just don’t know what justified the $ 20 per-​person charge on Friday.
I hope they used part of it to pay the band (Appleseed Collective) well — they were awesome. :-) And the artists had some amazing work out there, no question.
Maybe I misunderstood the articles and advertisements, though — I was expecting an art show with a Halloween focus, in a bunch of different media, and (hopefully) a variety of price points. But what it seemed to be was a place for people who already know their favorite artists and want to see them all in one place and spend *a lot* of money. (I didn’t expect that 95% of the items would cost $ 100-​$ 600, but that was my experience.) Just know before you go.