The Sugarloaf Crafts Festival got off to a stormy start this past weekend in Gaithersburg, MD (with lots of rain Friday morning), but soon enough the sun came out—and so did the crowds and the media! Tens of thousands of craft lovers ventured to the Montgomery County Fairgrounds to see their favorite Sugarloaf artists and shop artists’ newest work.

Artists weren’t the only ones displaying their craft at the Festival. We crafted a media strategy that targeted TV (Fox 5 and WUSA 9 covered the event) and yielded important stories in local publications like the Montgomery Village and Gazette that attracted visitors.

Our last show of the spring Sugarloaf season is next weekend in Timonium, MD. While we’ll be hoping for sunny weather, we wouldn’t mind another shower of media coverage.

Craft lovers packed the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pa this past weekend for the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival’s third spring show of the 2013 season. With a record setting 15% increase in the number of visitors, exhibitors were happy with all-time high attendance and sales—and we were happy with the record-setting media coverage of the show.

The Daily Local News, The Times Herald, CBS Philly, Phillyburbs and Montgomery Media all highlighted the talented Sugarloaf artists and the show features. The Festival also snagged coverage in the Bucks County Courier Times, The Intelligencer, Burlington County Times, The Roxborough Review, Glenside News, Ambler Gazette, ABC 6 and KYW News Radio…just to name a few.

Just as the artists enjoyed displaying their craft, so did we.

It’s quite an ironic sight-seeing boats parading through snow lined streets. We saw it last week at the New England Boat Show in Boston.

Two days before boats moved in to the Boston Convention Center, the city was blanketed by a record setting winter storm – up to 30 inches in some areas. It was not a great moment for exhibitors, but it was for the media – the Boston Globe created a video showing move-in and put the spotlight on the show as one of the “5 things to do in and around Boston.”

Throughout the nine-day show, visitors braved the winter elements (including three additional days of snow) to enjoy climbing aboard 750 boats, daily seminars, warm thoughts of summer in the middle of winter and autograph sessions with four Patriots players. The media defied the elements too by showering lots of love on the show: Boston.com and Boston Magazine created photo galleries of the show and an article in the Boston Business Journal noted that exhibitor space had sold out for the first time in five years.

Coming up this weekend, the Baltimore Boat Show!  We’re hoping for no snow…but then, maybe snow isn’t such a bad thing for a boat show. 

The Atlantic City Boat Show opened last week, and given our months of work promoting the show, we were flush for the trip to AC (woooo!) to coordinate the on-site media. The show itself was worth the trip – hundreds of boats, huge crowds anticipating summer fun, boating simulators and activities, and even 200lb. alligator-catching. Despite the successful show and the many options for entertainment in Atlantic City, we could not resist trying our luck…with the media.

It paid off big time.

In addition to dozens of other newspapers and magazines, The Philadelphia Inquirer highlighted the show and optimism for the boating industry on the front page, and the Press of Atlantic City ran a show preview, a business story and a photo gallery of the move-in. TV didn’t miss the boat either, with all five major network affiliates covering the show. CBS-Philly, NBC-Philly, NBC40 (AC), PHL-17, ABC-Philly and Fox-Philly all stopped by to get a look at the 400 boats, try some of the hands-on features, talk to the show manager and catch a glimpse of the alligator-catcher in action.

Now we go for broke for the New England and Baltimore boat shows, coming up later this month.

We are now working with the Edward A. Myerberg Center, a community Center in northwest Baltimore that provides experiences and services to adults who are over 55. We’re taking care of the rebranding and promotion of the Center’s 125 annual programs. This is an exciting project, as it is an exciting time for the Myerberg; the 900 members can look forward in the coming year to innovative new programs, adventurous trips and educational excursions.

We are also looking forward to the coming year at the Myerberg, as we work with the newly-hired executive director (20 years younger than his constituents) and change the perception of what a “senior” center can be.

For Myerberg participants—and for us—everything old(er) is new… again, we love the opportunity.

This past weekend, craft lovers in the Philadelphia area filled the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA, for the fourth Sugarloaf Crafts Festival of the fall season. Despite adverse conditions (power was still out in some areas near the Expo Center following Superstorm Sandy earlier in the week), the Festival was a huge success with 14,000 visitors spending over $1.2 million, and with record per-artist sales.

There was some great media coverage too, including an in-studio TV interview on PHL-17, a feature story in the 15 Montgomery Media newspapers, a photo gallery in The Times Herald, a prominent mention in three suburban newspapers, and over 1,400 Groupon deals purchased. There was also a great vibe at the show because 250 artists from around the country made the trek through Sandy’s treacherous tracks to share their beautiful work with fans in need of a little uplift.

Last week, we began our ninth season promoting Sugarloaf Craft Festivals. That’s nine seasons (and five years) of working with media outlets, writers, TV personalities, and bloggers so they can tell the story of American craftsmen—their talent, their inspiration, and their one of kind creations.

That’s nine seasons of attending Sugarloaf events (in Baltimore last week and DC this past weekend—with upcoming shows in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Virginia)—meeting the devotees who eagerly anticipate their closest show, talking to the shoppers searching for the latest trend and the coolest collectible.

That’s nine seasons of supporting American artists—knowing that by encouraging people to attend the show, we are contributing to their livelihood.

And that’s nine seasons of success—prominent newspaper stories in papers like the Baltimore Sun, Gazette, and Avenue News, live television segments, online features, hundreds of listings and blog posts, ticket contests and online promotions.

And that’s that.

When the NASA rover Curiosity successfully landed on Mars in the wee hours of Monday morning, we knew that yesterday was going to be filled with buzz—from insight offered by NASA scientists, from curious space lovers, and from the Maryland Science Center, who brought the two together.

On Monday, Maryland Science Center visitors were enthralled by the insight offered by NASA Space Research Scientist Jennifer Stern, who worked on the rover. Media were also enthralled.

WBAL-TV interviewed Dr. Stern and the Maryland Science Center’s Jim O’Leary about Curiosity’s technology and the future of space exploration. The Baltimore Sun and WMAR-TV also met Dr. Stern and ran stories about the successful landing.

This week, our Monday morning marketing mentioned Mars.