Take me down to the Paradise City festival

The Paradise City Arts Festival is hosting a spring show March 22-24 at the Royal Plaza Trade Center in Marlborough, Mass.

The 16th annual show draws about 8,000 attendees, according to director Linda Post. That number has increased through the years as visitors have been coming from a wider geographical radius, which she attributes to the show’s central location.

“When we first started this show in Marlborough, it was a tighter region that people were coming from. They were mostly from Boston, suburban Boston, the Providence area, and southern New Hampshire. But what we’ve been finding is that more and more people have been coming to this show from further away. So we’re getting more people from Connecticut and New York,” says Post.

The total exhibitor count is expected to be close to 175, as it has in previous years. Post says there are more furniture makers than usual, including Peter Handler of Philadelphia; Mark Del Guidice of Concord, Mass.; Michael Hoy of Solon, Maine; Michael Gloor of Exeter, R.I., and David Morrison of Concord, N.H.

“Our Northampton show, which is a bigger show, has always been very strong in furniture. But the Marlborough show, over the course of time, has been building up in the number of furniture makers that find that it’s a good market for what they do. We have a nice variety of work in the show, too. It’s not all the same kind of work. We have painted furniture, upholstered furniture, wooden furniture, metal furniture, and combinations of all of the above.”

Applications are now being accepted for the fall shows in Northampton (Oct. 12-14) and Marlborough (Nov. 22-24).

Contact: Paradise City Arts Festivals, 30 Industrial Dr. East, Northampton, MA 01060. Tel: 800-511-9725. www.paradisecityarts.com

This article originally appeared in the March 2013 issue.