Unzipping her booth tent the second morning of an arts fair, mixed-media artist Patricia Hecker of Bloomington, Indiana knew that someone had been there the night before. Her artwork was OK, but a cabinet had been broken into. "I'm sure someone was looking for money," she said. Fortunately, she had made sure to take all cash and receipts back to the motel the evening before, so there was no loss on that end - just a damaged cabinet. Hecker mentioned the break-in to the fair sponsors, who had hired security guards and had otherwise required all of the participating artists to sign a contract in which they acknowledge that all property at the site is left there at the vendors' own risk, but not to her insurance company. Why bother? The $1,000 deductible on her policy far exceeded the value of the cabinet, "and if you report a claim they'll just raise your rates."
Thefts are an occasional, sometimes regular, nuisance for artists and craftspeople who sell their work at fairs and festivals, despite the sincere efforts of the event sponsors and the artists themselves to stop them. They take place at night, when the artists aren't around to watch their booths, and during the day when the artists are busy making sales and talking to would-be buyers.
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