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Fifty-five mile-per-hour winds rocked artists' tents late in the afternoon of June 25, opening day. A biblical-style rain poured down the following evening. Thanks to the next two straight days of 88-degree-plus weather, however, the Utah Arts Festival maintained attendance numbers consistent with last year, said Lisa Sewell, festival director.
In fact, if not for the June 26 rain storm, Sewell said the festival might well have broken the 80,000 attendance figure of 2008. As it was, she is confident the festival broke all attendance records for its final two days.
Until the four large bags of festival ticket stubs are counted in the coming days, Sewell will go with what she calls a "gut estimate" of 75,000 people at the festival, held June 25-28 at Library Square and the Salt Lake City & County Building in downtown Salt Lake City.
"We learned a lot having that storm. It taught our tech people a lot about how we had it together. We didn't lose electricity, or one single tent," said Sewell, who has worked at the festival for 14 years, three of them as director. "If we had four days of 88-degree weather that would have been great, but I'll take three quarters."
Sewell said the festival also did well with 30 percent less funding. With sponsorships and foundation funds looking iffy last November, coupled with revenue warnings from the Salt Lake County's Zoo, Arts & Parks program, Sewell said she revised the festival budget twice before
She estimates that all festival departmental budgets -- including artistic programs and production fees -- will come in at, or well under, budget. "Being fiscally responsible helps," she said. "It also helps that my father is an accountant."
Trevin Prince, a 26-year-old artist from Logan who paints on Plexiglas using his own blood, said he sold half of his eight original works on display, in addition to three prints of his work.
Most artists he met did well selling works from their individual tents, Prince said. Sewell heard similar assessments. "I heard one artist say that if he didn't sell anything Sunday [the festival's last day] that would be fine, because he did well enough the first three days," she said.
Two physicians who stopped by Prince's tent expressed interest in having him create commissioned works using their blood, Prince said. "I had a great time. I definitely want to return next year," he said.
