The attendance for last weekend’s Mount Gretna Art Show totaled 7,325 on Saturday and Sunday, according to show director Kerry Royer.
The art show, which ran Aug. 21 and Aug. 22, brought 160 vendors from across the country together to sell their art, after a year’s hiatus from the in-person art show due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
“Every artist that I spoke with said they had a fantastic show,” said Royer. “The people were so happy to have the art show back in our community, and Mount Gretna is renowned in the artist community for being a fine show, so we have a lot of art patrons come to our show.
“We were pleased with the turnout and we were pleased with the support that [vendors] received, especially after such a difficult year last year, where many of the shows, which are their livelihood, were canceled.”
Read more: The art of a good time, post-COVID, in Mount Gretna’s wooded surroundings
Royer noted that Sunday’s turnout was lower than Saturday’s due to rain persisting throughout the day. However, plenty of attendees came prepared with umbrellas.
“We did have a lower gate on Sunday; it rained all day, and that kept some of our patrons away,” she explained. “That was unfortunate, but that is the reality of having an outdoor art show. The artists were still really pleased with the patrons who came to look at their art.”
This year’s art show differed from a typical year due to the ever-changing COVID-19 safety measures and restrictions. A lot of planning goes into an event as large as the Mount Gretna Art Show, and organizers had been working on possible game plans for this year’s show since last fall.
“It was a different year. It was a challenging year,” said Royer. “It takes a long time to put all of the logistics into place and, (with) the way that the pandemic affected the different kinds of mandates through the state, we were making a Plan A, Plan B and Plan C.”
With COVID-19 restrictions loosening more and more as the show drew nearer, it ended up resembling an ordinary event with some safety precautions. Booths were spaced out six feet apart (where they would normally be directly adjacent), leading to a reduced amount of vendors compared to 260 in 2019.
“The footprint of the show was the same, but we had fewer artists this year due to spacing them out,” said Royer.
In addition, high-touch areas were frequently sanitized, hand-sanitizing stations were available, and food vendors and tables were spaced out to allow for social distancing.
“Everybody worked together so well,” Royer said of adapting to the pandemic. “Everybody was so accommodating. I think people are used to attending events in a different way now.”
When last year’s art show was canceled, organizers held a virtual art show on their website to provide samples of vendors’ art and links to their websites. The initiative has continued this year (accessible here) alongside the in-person show, allowing patrons to track down artists they may have seen at the show.
“We’re really happy with the visual aspect of it, and it’s a big service to the artists who come to our show,” said Royer.
Overall, she considers this year’s art show to be a success and a refreshing return to normalcy for artists and patrons alike.
“People were thrilled to come out to Mount Gretna,” Royer said. “It is such a special place with such an amazing and charming atmosphere. They were just glad to be back underneath the trees of Chautauqua where we had these high-caliber artists.”
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