This past weekend, the poster community gathered in person for the first time in many years at the Woodstock Rock Art and Poster Show (WRAPS). This was the inaugural year of what PAE hopes will become an annual event. Until now, the only real in-person event for rock posters was the beloved annual TRPS show in San Francisco. The San Francisco show is a much more established event that has been in operation for decades and attracts much of the old-school poster community and has always been a one-day happening. The WRAPS show, however, spanned a whole weekend and featured live music running throughout. It was a true party atmosphere!

The town of Woodstock NY was the perfect backdrop for this gathering. This quiet idyllic town enclave has attracted musicians and other assorted bohemians for decades. The exhibitors at WRAPS included a cross-section of modern poster artists, dealers, and related specialty vendors. The representatives from the vintage poster market included us here at PAE, as well as Concertposterauction.com and Bahr Gallery.

Andy, Glen, and Don were representing PAE and never experienced a dull moment. We had a steady flow of visitors at our booth throughout the weekend. Like TRPS, WRAPS was more of a networking event than a sales-driven opportunity. Though sales were respectable and totally worth the expense, the real profit was being able to connect with our friends and clients that we’ve only communicated with online or by phone. Connecting names to faces was a wonderful experience. Folks were eager to tell stories and show off their collections. The vibe in the room was never less than joyful.

This type of public event is essential for the concert poster community. These beautiful posters are never sufficiently displayed on computer screens, and now that a huge proportion of our followers only view our offerings from a smartphone, the ability to get this art in front of real sets of eyes is invaluable. PAE intends to find more opportunities to publicly show our posters in the near future. The comic show circuit is reviving itself rapidly post-pandemic, and we are hoping to find opportunities to jump onto that ship! We have clearly found the crossover potential from the comic book world and intend to keep telling the story of what is still the best-kept secret in collectibles, for now that is…