Rio Grande Arts & Crafts Festival
General Information November 2015
November 27
November 28
November 29
Friday 10:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday 10:00am – 5:00pm
Sunday 10:00am – 5:00pm
Stop by the front desk to visit anytime! We’ll have coffee, tea and coffee cake before opening each day as
well as the “Bottomless Candy Basket” and coffee and tea all day long. Help is available for hire during
setup and tear down. Complimentary booth sitters are available throughout the show.
LOCATION:
The Festival will be held in the Manuel Lujan Exhibit Complex at EXPO New Mexico (State Fairgrounds). Enter
EXPO NM through the San Pedro entrance and park near the Manuel Lujan Exhibit Complex. Check-in will be
at the front desk at the West Entrance of Hall B. Please check-in before you begin unloading. You may then
park at whatever entrance is closest to your booth. Name badges, parking passes, tax charts, etc., will be
included in the check-in packet.
SET UP / CHECK IN and TEAR DOWN:
Early Set up is Wednesday, November 25, 9:00 am - 6:00 pm. You may also set up Thursday, November 26,
9:00 am – 4:00 pm. (You must check-in by 3:00 pm Thursday and complete load in by 4:00 pm) exhibitors
who have not checked-in or called by 3pm, Thursday, will be considered a No Show and will forfeit their
booth. All doors to the building will be secured at 4:00 pm. You must finish loading-in before that time, but
you may continue working in your booth. Finishing touches to your display may also be done Friday morning
from 8:00 am – 9:30 am. No loading-in Friday morning for security reasons. Tear down immediately after
closing 5:00 pm Sunday.
BOOTH ASSIGNMENTS:
Be certain to verify booth size and other information on Form A. Please sign the Form A and return it to us,
by May 15. Call us ASAP if there is a discrepancy. Booth numbers will be e-mailed and also sent with ordered
invitations by early November. If you do not have an e-mail address, you may call for your booth number in
November.
THANKSGIVING DINNER:
We appreciate all of you being here for our Thanksgiving Weekend Show. Once again, we will make
reservations for Thanksgiving Dinner (around 5 pm) for those of you who are interested in going to eat with a
group of fellow artists at a local restaurant. Sign up at check-in.
CORNER REQUESTS:
If you reserved a standard booth but would prefer a corner, you may request one on the Form A, and we will
do our best to accommodate you, should a corner become available. (sold out at this time)
GUIDELINES FOR BOOTH DISPLAYS:
An attractive, neat, professional looking booth is expected of all our exhibitors.
• Please add some festive touches to your normal booth décor to add to the holiday spirit of the
Show. Thanks!!
• Each booth must have its own fireproofed (see fire code section) back and side walls (e.g. pro panels,
pipe and drape, grids with fabric behind them etc.) Whatever your walls are made of they should block
out your neighbors booth and/or the wall behind your booth. Open shelving or grids must have draping
behind it. Canopy frames only may be used, but canopy walls are not a professional look for indoors.
Use drape or fabric instead. Do not use canopy tops indoors. Exhibitors who do not provide partitions
must rent pipe and draping from the Festival. Please call if you have any questions.
• Pipe and drape, which is fireproofed, is available to rent. Please order ahead so we can have it set up
for you. If not ordered prior to Monday 11/24/14 price is increased. See Form A for details. Please do
not pin, tape or otherwise attach anything to the rented draping material.
• Standard height of a booth is 8’. Perimeter walls of Hall B have beams that prohibit taller booths.
Depending on the location of your booth you may not be able to use extensions to raise the height of
your booth. If your extensions are higher than 8’ you must note this on your Form A. Thanks!
• Displays must be contained within the boundaries of the booth. Clothing racks or displays suspended
from grid walls may not protrude beyond the space into the aisle. One chair may be in the aisle adjacent
to your booth. Do not put chairs and tables across from your booth in open areas by entertainment,
doorways etc. Management will remove them.
• Tables must be covered to the floor on all sides showing, with a suitable fireproofed, professional
cover.
• Storage bins, boxes, back up product, etc. must be concealed.
No music, noise, scents, incense, etc. which infringes on other exhibitors’ rights is allowed. Music
vendors must provide earphones for customer demos. No music may be played in booths.
Demonstrations of artist made instruments should be limited to 15 min. per hour.
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No candles or oil lamps or open flames are allowed due to fire code. Call for ways to display these.
No hay bales, confetti or similar materials that litter the floor are allowed.
Carpet is recommended. The floors are concrete. Secure edges with tape.
Do not prop exterior doors open, thanks.
GUIDELINES FOR BOOTH SIGNAGE:
We will provide an artist sign for your booth with your name, city, state and booth number. Make sure we
know of a change in your town if you have moved. All other signage in your booth should be professional
looking and tastefully done. We discourage large signs or banners that have a commercial look to them. Call
if you have any questions. Specialty food booths in the culinary arts section may have tastefully done,
reasonably sized banners. No signage above 8 feet high. No “sale” or “discount” signs. No signs advertising
other shows or galleries are allowed.
RESTRICTIONS:
Festival Management reserves the right to ask exhibitors to remove exhibits that have been falsely
entered or are found to be manufactured or imported, or any that are unsuitable or objectionable for a
family oriented clientele. This includes subject matter of artwork, music, noise, scents, printed materials or
anything else that the management finds objectionable. In the event that the exhibitor is asked to leave,
refunds will not be given.
PARKING:
During show hours, you may park behind the Manuel Lujan Building or parking attendants will direct you to
available parking. You will need to have a parking pass (provided at check-in) to enter the Fairgrounds on
show days. Additional passes may be purchased from us for $7.50 each. Daily parking, without a pass, is
$5.00 per day. The closest locations for cargo trailers is the lot behind (east of) the Manuel Lujan Complex or
the lot just north of it by the Red Barn structure.
INVITATIONS….OURS OR YOURS:
Full color postcard invitations to the Festival will be available for you to personalize and mail to your
customers, friends, etc. Each invitation will give $1.00 off one admission. Please fill out the number needed
on Form A. You may order up to 50 invitations to be mailed to you at no cost, thereafter the charge is $5.00
per 50, which includes postage to have them mailed to you. In addition, we e-mail full color invitations to the
show with a $1.00 off to 30,000 customers. We will e-mail you this invitation, in September, which you can
forward to your e-mail list. You are also welcome to print and mail or email your own invitations for the
Festival to your customers. You may state “$1.00 off one admission, not valid with any other offer”, and we
will honor that discount at the door. Please send one to our office as a sample for our cashiers at the Festival
ELECTRICITY:
Electricity is $65.00 and must be prepaid. (See Form A). There will be one outlet available per booth 400 watt
limit -- so plan your lighting accordingly. The outlet may not be in your booth, bring a 25-foot grounded
extension cord and a multi outlet adapter strip - the kind you plug in with a cord. You may have to share an
outlet with your neighbor.
SECURITY:
Overnight security is provided. Exhibitors will be allowed in to the show one hour prior to opening each day,
or if you need more time, you may come in earlier. In either case, you must have your name badge on and
show it to the security guard. (Name badges must be worn throughout the show.) For your protection during
the Festival, we recommend keeping your cash, checks, etc., in a belt bag or purse secured on your person.
There have been a few unfortunate incidents over the years where cash boxes have been stolen while
exhibitors were busy with customers, so please be careful. We have security escorts available to walk you to
your vehicle after closing each night. Come to the front desk.
CHILDREN AND PETS:
Due to safety and liability issues, we ask that you do not bring small children to the show or to set-up or
teardown. For everyone’s safety and well-being, if you have older children with you, please do not allow
them to wander the festival unsupervised. Older children may visit The Kid’s Creation Station, but please tell
your children to limit their time to a total of only one hour per day to allow other children the time and
space to enjoy the activities. Exhibitors are not permitted to have dogs at the show unless they are certified
assistance dogs.
SALES TAX:
Sales tax at EXPO New Mexico State Fairgrounds is 6.0625% (but is subject to change). Tax charts and tax
reporting forms will be in your Exhibitor Packet you receive at check-in. An Albuquerque City Business
License is not required as EXPO NM is on state property.
HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS
If you need accommodations, you should make your reservations NOW to be sure that you get a room.
We will have room blocks available and they will be posted on our website under Artist Resources. You may
find a better price on your own. We suggest using the internet and visiting sites such as Priceline.com,
Travelocity.com and Orbitz.com for the best rates. The Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau will also
mail you visitor’s information on Albuquerque if you like (ACVB - 1-800-284-2282). We will also have these
Visitor’s Guides available for you at the show.
RV PARKING
There is RV parking available at EXPO NM both with and without hookups for a fee. Parking location shall be
at discretion of EXPO NM. Special needs can be accommodated with prior notice. For information, call the
EXPO NM Events Office at 505-222-9700 or you may make arrangements upon arrival.
Please feel free to call us if we can be of further assistance 505-292-7457
We are looking forward to seeing our old friends and meeting new ones! Have a great summer!
Ruth, Chester, Liz, Leslie and Lucy
Directions to Festival Site: From I-40, exit Louisiana and go south to Lomas. Turn right (west) onto Lomas; go one
block to San Pedro, turn left (south) and proceed to Fairgrounds entrance at Copper (stoplight) and turn left. Go about
a block to the tree lined street, turn left, go a block and a half until you see our banner across the street at the Lujan
Building entrance.