ST. LOUIS, Feb 16, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
Contrary to the negative perceptions often associated with automotive
dealerships, a recent Maritz
Research CEBenchmarks(TM) study revealed the auto industry
outperforms several other industries, including retail and wireless
services, when it comes to providing a quality customer service
experience. In fact, three in four customers rated their experience
among the three highest ratings on a 10-point scale when purchasing or
leasing a vehicle or having a vehicle serviced.

The CEBenchmarks study compared customer service experiences across 11
industries and 34 types of transactions. Specifically, for automotive
transactions, customers were asked about experiences purchasing or
leasing a vehicle from a new car dealership in the past six months and
having vehicles serviced at a new car dealership within the past three
months.

“With so many dealerships vying for business with increased competition,
ensuring quality customer experience during the buying and servicing
process is incredibly important,” said Scott
Pimley, strategic consulting director of Maritz Research’s
Automotive Research Group. “Our findings demonstrate that personnel at
automotive dealerships recognize how providing a good experience can
create loyal customers and benefit the dealership’s bottom line.”

When asked more detailed questions about their automotive sales
experience, 74.5 percent of customers were satisfied. The study also
identified key factors in driving this customer satisfaction. Customers
rated their experience with the sales process as the most important
aspect, followed by dealership honesty, dealership keeping promises,
vehicle delivery process and financing/paperwork process as additional
indicators of satisfaction.

When it came to automotive service, 74.9 percent of customers were
satisfied, citing dealership honesty as the most important factor in
driving their satisfaction. Additional key factors included quality of
repair, timeliness of service, drop-off and service write-off process,
vehicle pick-up process and vehicle fixed right the first time.

“Leading several industries in customer satisfaction is a great
testament to auto dealerships understanding and then satisfying their
customers’ needs,” said Chris Travell, vice president of strategic
consulting for the Maritz Research Automotive Research Group. “As more
and more people use social media and online commerce instead of
face-to-face interaction, it will be increasingly more important for
dealers to provide a quality customer experience that can be delivered
virtually and personally.”

In fact, a fall Maritz Poll on general social media usage revealed that
more than 65 percent of customers are using social media when making
auto purchasing decisions. In that poll, the auto industry leads 10
other industries in social media usage to influence buying.

For additional commentary and insights regarding the CEBenchmark’s
study, visit:
http://therideblog.com/customerexperience/shattering-negative-stereotypes-in-the-automotive-industry/ .

For more information, check out our accompanying infographic
and Executive
Summary.

About CEBenchmarks

CEBenchmarks(TM) is a new customer experience measurement (CEM)
benchmarking tool that enables companies to understand how they stack up
to competitors on key customer experience measures, both within and
outside their own industry sector. CEBenchmarks collects data on a
continuous basis and delivers quarterly benchmarks on 31 categories of
customer experience activity across several industries, including
automotive, retail & restaurants, hospitality, insurance & investments,
wireless, cable & internet, and banking & finance. CEBenchmarks measures
representative satisfaction, overall satisfaction, likelihood to
recommend, and likelihood to repeat purchase/loyalty, which are included
in the study across all customer experience categories.

About Maritz Research

As one of the world’s largest marketing research firms, Maritz Research,
a unit of Maritz, helps many of today’s most successful companies
improve performance through a deep understanding of their customers,
employees and channel partners. Founded in 1973, it offers a range of
strategic and tactical solutions concentrating primarily in the
automotive, financial services, hospitality, technology,
telecommunications, and retail industries. The company has achieved ISO
20252 registration, the international symbol of quality. It is a member
of CASRO, ESOMAR, MRA, and is the official sponsor of the American
Marketing Association.

For more information, visit
www.MaritzResearch.com
or contact us at 1-877-4MARITZ.

SOURCE: Maritz Research

Maritz Research
Jennifer Larsen, 636-827-1523
jennifer.larsen@maritz.com

Copyright Business Wire 2012

#13;

See the original story here. See City Manager Julie Underwoods response here.

#13;

A man stood on his roof and looked at the stars. Soon he could see a truth in the stars, and he thought, “Id like to tell everyone.” So he went to the Village, and he said to the people “Look! See what I found?” But no one listened. So he went back to his roof and looked at the stars. After a while, he was still there. And the stars were still there. And he thought, “the truth is still there. And Id still like to share it.”

#13;

As I reflect on my three decades as a planning professional, including 18 years as a planning director, I can relate to Galileo. He saw many things well before others did, including sometimes unsettling but stubborn truths. His insistence on describing the universe as he saw it came at a personal price. The flat-earthers in charge of the Village suppressed the truths he saw and he spent his final days under house arrest.

#13;

In my own career, I have worked with and for thousands of caring citizens, hundreds of dedicated city employees and dozens of city councilmembers. I was fortunate to be hired by city managers for three different cities, and worked as a planning director for a total of six city managers. It was tremendously rewarding, both professionally and personally, that five of them permitted me to help them to “see the truth in the stars.” Because they did, I was able to help build successful planning programs, city organizations and communities.

#13;

Much of my success as a planning director I credit to the competent and dedicated staff I had the privilege to work with, including many fine people here at the City of Shoreline. Equally important, though, was that five of my six city managers “got” city planning – they valued it for more than just permit revenues. They helped their cities succeed in part because they understood, respected and trusted my ability as a planning director, and I succeeded largely because of that. Unfortunately, when it comes to city planning in Shoreline, I wasn’t always able to help everyone see “the truth in the stars.” People see reality based largely on their own experiences (or lack thereof), through the lens of their own biases, and in response to many inputs, including political pressures. I certainly don’t question people’s right to disagree with me. I’ve had no shortage of that in my career. But I do object to people, especially those in authority, who resist attempts to separate myth from fact. For the record, here are three of the most unfair but easily disprovable myths about the Shoreline Planning Department:

#13;

MYTH #1: “The Planning Department is difficult to work with and has a bad reputation with our customers.” This was actually said by one of our Village’s most prominent leaders directly to the entire department at our retreat last spring. When pressed for details, this prominent leader would only say “I’m just saying. That’s what I’m hearing. You guys are hard to work with.”

#13;

FACT: In response, I shared with this individual the Department’s written Customer Satisfaction feedback as of May 2011. At that point it was 95% excellent or good. This apparently didn’t square with her “hearsay evidence”, so, in the fall of 2011, she retained an independent consultant to evaluate the satisfaction of our customers with the City’s permit process.

#13;

After convening a focus group of permit customers, the consultant reported “All attendees were pleased by the department’s customer service, knowledge, and availability, especially in comparison to other jurisdictions.” When asked what should be changed or improved, the focus group’s unanimous response was ‘keep it up.”

#13;

THE TRUTH: The Planning Department customer service ratings are excellent. The allegation that the people in this department are “difficult to work with” is absolutely untrue. The people of the department who were tarred with this hearsay deserve an apology.

#13;

MYTH #2: “No, we don’t expect that eliminating two planning positions will affect the City’s ability to continue to process permits in as timely a manner.” This City Managers Office opinion was actually given in response to Councilman’s question at a budget hearing. Council was told that because permit revenues were down, that permit activity (ie, work) was down and therefore the loss of two positions wouldn’t affect the capacity to get the permit work done.

#13;

FACT: While permit revenues are down in recent years, permit activity is actually up and the type of permits we are now seeing are far more staff time intensive even than two years ago. Comparing Hansen data base for 2011 permits with 2009 permits, we see that while revenues were down by about 30%, the total number of permits was actually UP by 10%! See Attachment #1. The amount of work required to be done was actually MORE in 2011 than two years before, not less.

#13;

The 2011 permits were also more time intensive because of the nature of those permits. In previous years most permits were filed by experienced developers. However, in 2011 many permit applicants were Shoreline homeowners who needed substantially more staff assistance.

#13;

TRUTH: Permit revenue is one important metric, but it alone doesn’t tell the story of how busy a permit department is. The Truth of the matter is that the Planning Department did more actual work in 2011 than in 2009, and there is no reason to expect 2012 to be less busy than 2011.

#13;

The ability to process permits in as timely a fashion as 2011 definitely will be affected. Permits will take longer to process.

#13;

———————————————————————————-

#13;

MYTH #3: “The three other large Departments received more resources to do their work in 2012, but the Planning Department can do more with less. See Myth #2 above.”

#13;

FACT: Laying off 2 employees out of the City Planning Team is a 23% reduction in resource. (8.6 planner FTEs minus 2 FTEs leaves 6.6 FTEs.) How well would other functions of City government work with one in four fewer people? I daresay that a 23% cut would have a dramatic impact on any program. It’s even more dramatic here because Shoreline began 2011 as one of the leanest organizations in the region.

#13;

I have 18 years of experience in running planning departments and can say with informed confidence that a 23% cut can’t be shrugged off. It will have an effect. For those who have zero years of experience running a city planning department to tell the Council otherwise is naive at best.

#13;

TRUTH: The City Managers Office and Council certainly have the prerogative to reduce the levels of FTEs assigned to any city department or program. But they also have an obligation both to Shoreline citizens and to the staff who serve them, to be truthful about the obvious consequence of such reductions. “Doing more with less” is a politically popular mantra, especially in these fiscally challenging times. But, for a lean Planning department such as ours, no amount of happy talk trumps the timeworn truths that “you get what you pay for,” and “you don’t do more with less, you do less with less.”

#13;

Facts are stubborn things. Truth is important to me. People deserve better than to be judged on myths, rumors and hearsay. Sadly, despite my urging, there is no evidence than any of the above cited facts or truths were ever shared with the citizens of Shoreline or their elected officials.

#13;

In closing, I’d like to say that I have greatly enjoyed five of my six years in Shoreline and the vast majority of the employees who serve this fine community. I won’t be here to participate in the important discussion that will be prompted by the recent employee satisfaction survey. But I do hope that it provides an opportunity for the leaders of the Village to engage a candid, honest and healing conversation. And that it will help lay to rest some of the myths that have clouded the truth in the stars.

#13;

Good luck, all. Peace on you. Joe

#13;

Increase in number of Permits-up 10% from 2009 to 2011

#13;

The venue, a New York City cultural center founded in 1982, served as the prime location for Ainsleys breathtaking showcase. One big open space with inviting white walls and slightly dimmed lights allowed for the clothes to speak for themselves. They certainly demanded attention from the crowd.

This Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Ainsleys goal was to give consumers something new a new kind of fashion show experience. With a large screen projecting teaser videos of the collection, models dressed in Ainsley pieces walking effortlessly on rocks, and drums strumming in the background, a whimsical Southwestern mood was set.

CITY OF INDUSTRY, CA, Jan 31, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) –
Newegg Inc., the second-largest online-only retailer in the United
States, today announced that NeweggBusiness (
www.neweggbusiness.com ),
the company’s B2B website, reported a successful 2011 with
record-breaking results. NeweggBusiness’ growth was fueled by the
industry’s need for a simple, cost-saving online destination for
purchasing business essentials. Notable milestones for NeweggBusiness
in 2011 included significant year-over-year growth in sales,
customers and web traffic.

“While other B2B technology solution providers remained stagnant or
decreased in size last year, NeweggBusiness experienced incredible
growth in 2011,” said Annie Yeh, senior director and head of
NeweggBusiness. “We attribute much of this growth to our primary goal
of making the shopping experience for our customers as quick, easy
and convenient as possible. We are looking forward to another great
year of expansive growth in 2012.”

Key 2011 highlights for NeweggBusiness include:

— 89% year-over-year growth in sales
— Customer count increased 77% over the previous year
— Web traffic grew 108% year-over-year
— Expanded product selection to more than 50,000 unique products
— Established partnerships with leading providers of computer hardware
and electronics
— Improved website functionality with new features such as “Order by
Item Number” and the ability to access complete order history and
download copies of any past invoices

Launched in 2009, NeweggBusiness specializes in providing business
essentials to small and medium-sized organizations across a variety
of industries including government, education and healthcare. The
site offers a wide selection of products from IT hardware to office
supplies and continues to expand every day. NeweggBusiness customers
can also take advantage of an array of services, such as net terms
payment options, volume discounts, advanced account management, bulk
shipping and transparent inventory status.

"As our business grows, we rely on NeweggBusiness for all of our
hardware needs," said Vincent Wong, CTO of iForged Performance
Alloys, a full service fabrication and customer wheel design
facility. "NeweggBusiness allows us to concentrate on our core
business -- 'reinventing the wheel.'"

About Newegg Inc.
Newegg Inc. is the second-largest online-only
retailer in the United States. It owns and operates Newegg.com
(
www.newegg.com ) which was founded in 2001 and regularly earns
industry-leading customer service ratings. The award-winning website
has more than 16 million registered users and offers customers a
comprehensive selection of the latest consumer electronics, detailed
product descriptions and images, as well as how-to information and
customer reviews. Using the site's online tech community, customers
have the opportunity to interact with other computer, gaming and
consumer electronics enthusiasts. Newegg Inc. is headquartered in
City of Industry, California.

Contacts:
Jenny Chai
Newegg Inc.
(626) 271-1420 x23369
Email Contact

SOURCE: Newegg Inc.

http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=DB928FEF4F76BC93

Copyright 2012 Marketwire, Inc., All rights reserved.

Fractal Design, a leading manufacturer of computer cases, has announced that online retailer Newegg Inc., has awarded Fractal Design North America Inc. with an Eggie Award for Best New Vendor. The Eggie Award recognizes the outstanding contributions made by Neweggs vendors and customers in 2011 and was presented at the Newegg Eggie Awards event at CES 2012 in Las Vegas.

Fractal Design computer cases have garnered numerous industry accolades and praise for their minimalistic Scandinavian design, attention to detail, and focus on value. Following successes in worldwide markets, Fractal Design products were launched in North America in 2011.

“We are honored to receive this prestigious award from our partners at Newegg,” said Paul Heimbuch, President of Fractal Design North America. “With a reputation for unparalleled attention to customer satisfaction and top-level service, Newegg was most certainly a key asset in the successful launch of our product line in North America.”

The Eggie award is our way of thanking our most valued partners and customers for their contributions to our company, said Dr. SC Lee, CEO of Newegg North America. “We are grateful for their continued support and the positive impact they have made on our business last year.

About Fractal Design -

Fractal Design, based in Gothenburg, Sweden has become one of the leading manufacturers of PC cases, power supplies and cooling products. The company was founded in 2007 by a team of Swedish engineers who have carefully listened to the needs of customers. The company’s PC cases have won multiple awards and are renowned for combining high quality workmanship with striking design features, superior performance and excellent value.

About Newegg Inc.

Newegg Inc. is the second-largest online-only retailer in the United States. It owns and operates Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com) which was founded in 2001 and regularly earns industry-leading customer service ratings. The award-winning website has more than 16 million registered users and offers customers a comprehensive selection of the latest consumer electronics, detailed product descriptions and images, as well as how-to information and customer reviews. Using the sites online tech community, customers have the opportunity to interact with other computer, gaming and consumer electronics enthusiasts. Newegg Inc. is headquartered in City of Industry, California.

###

CAMPBELL, Calif., Feb 16, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
Exalt Communications today announced that industry veteran John Grabner
has joined Exalt as vice president of engineering. Grabner, who has over
25 years of telecommunications industry experience within both the
service provider and enterprise markets, is responsible for overseeing
worldwide development of Exalt’s wireless
backhaul systems.

Prior to joining Exalt, Grabner was director of engineering for Cisco’s
wireless business unit, a position he accepted following the company’s
acquisition of Navini Networks, where Grabner served as vice president
of engineering. Grabner was a key executive contributor to Navini’s
success, growing it as a startup to become one of the leading wireless
broadband companies of its time, and prompting Cisco to ultimately
acquire Navini in 2007. Before Navini, Grabner spent 17 years with
Nortel Networks, where he held a number of technical and engineering
management positions. Grabner holds 19 patents, as well as a Bachelor of
Engineering with distinction in computer systems engineering from
Carleton University.

“Despite the challenging economy of the past several years, our
innovative technology platform has enabled us to grow our market share
faster than our competitors,” said Amir Zoufonoun, CEO and founder of
Exalt Communications. “John’s demonstrated leadership in driving the
development and management of next-generation wireless technologies,
combined with his deep roots in the telecommunications industry, will be
invaluable to Exalt as we continue to drive innovation throughout our
portfolio to capitalize on high-growth market opportunities.”

Grabner joins Exalt at a time of tremendous growth and opportunity
within the telecommunications industry. In fact, over the past year,
Exalt has greatly expanded its technology platform and recently
surpassed the 1,300-customer milestone. The company is experiencing
significant product demand driven by mobile
backhaul, rural
broadband, smart
grid, and homeland security projects.

“Exalt is in an ideal position to take advantage of the opportunities in
the backhaul industry,” said John Grabner. “With a solid track record of
achievement within microwave backhaul and a highly flexible technology
platform, Exalt is ready to emerge as an industry leader as the market
increasingly demands smaller, faster, more powerful, and more
cost-effective backhaul solutions.”

About Exalt Communications

Exalt
Communications provides next-generation wireless backhaul systems to
mobile operators, service providers, government agencies, and
enterprises worldwide. Exalt systems are designed to solve the network
bottlenecks associated with the growing demand for IP-based voice, data,
and video applications and the resulting migration from TDM to IP-based
networks. With a flexible architecture and universal product platform
covering multiple market segments, Exalt provides a full range of
microwave backhaul systems that meet the demand for cost-effective and
flexible alternatives to fiber and leased lines.
www.exaltcom.com

SOURCE: Exalt Communications Inc.

Exalt Communications Inc.
Pamela Valentine, 408-688-0288
Vice President, Marketing Outbound & Channel
pvalentine@exaltcom.com
or
Davies Murphy Group, Inc.
Paul Roberts, 781-418-2418
exalt@daviesmurphy.com

Copyright Business Wire 2012

Profitability:

Customer Service:

Communication:

Ease of Use:

Would you recommend:

Atomic Mall
Year Established: 2008
Description: Fixed price listings and general merchandise, recently introduced an auction format
More Info

Summary:
Atomic Mall ranked number three in 2010, number eight in 2011, and number eleven this year, dropping from an overall rating of 5.9 last year to 5.6 in 2012.

Many (but not all) sellers expressed satisfaction with fees. Despite some comments about good exposure in Google search results, many said there was low traffic to their listings. There were also inconsistent comments about customer service – some rated highly, others poorly (it received a 6 out of 10 for Customer Service ratings).

Sellers like the unique feedback feature Atomic Mall offers – apparently if a buyer fails to leave feedback, the site automatically gives the seller a no complaint rating. The sites lowest marks were for profitability (4.8), and it earned its highest marks for ease of use (6.2).

Reader Comments – The Good, The Bad, The Ugly:

I LOVE Atomic Mall. Definitely the most profitable place Ive sold, and theyre great to their customers. They dont take much in fees either.

***
Atomic Mall has gone back to basics, the way it should be. The fees are reasonable and my stuff is easily found in a Google Search.

***
Been on this site for quite a while – but need to increase my number of listings. I have now opened a total of 4 stores – so my confidence in the site is increasing.

***
I get very good product placement on Google, due to their uploading.

***
I have been with AM for almost 4 years and once a few startup bugs were resolved very quickly, it has been almost trouble free. I tried three other sites before AM for years and there were almost constant problems and slow resolution time.

***
In my opinion one of the shining stars of all the online auction sites. Great support, and sales are growing quite steadily with minimal effort put into my store. Kudos to the team there.

***
Site is easy to use and owner is very responsive.

***
Atomic Mall is an easy to use site and has enough traffic to be able to sell some items.

***
Great features: Packing List, Invoice, traffic source stats, compatible with Google attribute data feed requirements.

***
Nice layout on the stores and easy to set up. If seller does not leave feedback, one is generated as no complaint and is set 100 % approval.

***
Ease of listing and great customer service. I also like the automatic feedback provided to sellers if there have been no problems reported to the site by the buyers. Unlike other sites where buyers many times neglect the feedback process, at Atomic Mall sellers are always guaranteed they will receive feedback.

***
AM has consistently maintained its selling platform performance and has continued to increase traffic. Sales are not spectacular, but are steadily increasing. It allows multiple payment options, including direct credit card merchant accounts, and has a bulk upload feature that works quite well. Most traffic arrives via Google and other search engines.

***
This is a great site! I sell on a number of different sites. This is the only one where I have measurable sales. Customer service is wonderful, people are nice and helpful, and it has most of the listing features of much larger sites.

***
I find Atomic Mall a very easy place to use, I think there needs to be more communication between customer service and sellers, sometimes it takes forever to get an answer from them on something.

***
Great fee structure! Having to host pictures on Photobucket is a pain, so it does limit my listing of new items.

***
Love the new inventory features. Customer service there is still woefully lacking. Very difficult to get a refund of FVF if the buyer backs out.

***
Atomic Mall is a great site to use in terms of ease of use and low fees. I have had no issues dealing with them. But they dont seem to get the same amount of traffic as a few of the bigger sites, so I only make a couple of sales a month.

***
Little traffic to the site. Any sales come from Google feeds not directly from visiting the site. Overall would be a better site if there were more traffic.

***
Atomic Mall is fun, but its still too new and not much traffic for the average seller. Still a great addition if you have the extra time to focus on a new platform.

***
Its a nice place to use but not a primary source of traffic. Its kinda corny with the sound effects – which I wouldnt mind if stuff like their bulk lister worked.

***
AM sales are still strong, and getting better all the time. The owner does seem to be a little disillusioned though. The auction part of the site never seemed to catch on. Since then he doesnt seem as involved in the site…email support is sketchy at best….but dont get me wrong; its still one the best selling venues around.

***
They make you pay a fee before you find out that their site is basically a waste of time and effort. I never have had a sale yet.

***
Its very clumsy to maneuver as a seller. Several features either dont work or dont work well. Their help method is to post on their forum and hope someone can and will help you. Its just generally a crappy site !!

***
I have had no sales in over a year on this site and it takes a long time for customer service to get back with you.

***
Not many traffic and buyers. No automatic promotion on search engines.

***
I did not feel the site was user friendly. It was to complicated to navigate as a seller.

***
Atomic Mall appeared to be a good venue to sell when it first began. Later, there were too many fees that were not disclosed. Fees occurred even if you did not make a sell. Second, customer service occurs 50% of the time. The site is easy to use. The traffic to the location appears to be low, in addition to sales.

***
I have found Atomic Mall to be really great in the Christmas period, but very slow through the rest of the year.

***
Very difficult to list and sell on… Usually their systems are not working correctly, ESPECIALLY the ad Importer feature. Tried to use it and it caused a major cash loss to my company due to having to honor sales that their system listed my imported items but which were completely scrambled with wrong shipping amounts, wrong prices, etc…

***
I sell collectibles and had little luck, few sales. Very easy to list on, Mike is great. I didnt make any money, tho.

Sellers Choice Awards
We thank all readers who took the time to rate the marketplaces. If you have comments about the survey results or the survey itself, please feel free to post them in the EcommerceBytes Blog.

• HTC Audio Streaming Service Likely to be Shown at MWC
• Siri Spills Beans on Japanese Language Support

Hey readers! Welcome to the first installment of Fine Art Friday. Here on DeviceMAG we noticed there was a completely untouched portion of the gaming industry on the site specifically when it came to the wonderful art that populates it. So, we decided to add this new weekly segment to highlight a wonderful work of art that we’ve come across on the internet. There are many talented artists out there, both professional and amateur, that should not go unnoticed.

For our first week, we have an incredible spin on one of gaming’s favorite characters brothers, Mario and Luigi. Splash Damage’s environment artist Johnathan Flethcer designed this new iteration of the famous plumbers. One of the best things about the characters is the back-story that he developed for the overshadowed brother Luigi.

On the Polycount Forums he writes:

His jealousy of Mario and his success turned him to a life of alcohol and drugs, where he developed heavy mental damage and severe paranoia causing him to believe that ghosts are attacking him. He fights them off with his trusty Henry Hoover.

The designs for the characters are great and having a more mature spin on the Super Mario Bros. would make for an excellent game. He even made a video of the characters in motion and you’re just begging for someone to press the start button and explore this world.

Take note Nintendo! To see more work from Johnathan, head over to his website.

Let us know what you think of the art piece in the comments below.

]]> http://www.evidently.us/2012/02/fine-art-friday-johnathan-fletchers-super-mario-brothers/feed/ 0 http://www.evidently.us/2012/02/fine-art-festival-returns-to-oro-valley-feb-4-amp-5-2/ http://www.evidently.us/2012/02/fine-art-festival-returns-to-oro-valley-feb-4-amp-5-2/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:56:09 +0000 Admin http://www.evidently.us/2012/02/fine-art-festival-returns-to-oro-valley-feb-4-amp-5-2/

The Steam Pump Village Fine Art Festival returns to Oro Valley for its second time, Feb. 4 amp; 5, bringing with it even better quality artists and live music.

Over 30 fine artists, both national and local, will display art in various mediums includingceramics, fiber, glass, jewelry, sculpture, mixed media, paintings, drawings, photography, printmaking, wood and furniture. Price ranges from about $10 to $2,000.

The Arizona Theatre Company will be hosting a game of chance in which attendees can enter to win free passes to an upcoming performance. Patrons are also encouraged to stop in for some lunch at the nearby Baggins or Chilis located in the same shopping center.Live demonstrations and booth chats are new this year, which will give festival-goers an inside look at what goes into making all the artwork.

We are really excited to present this festival to the residents of Northwest Tucson. We know there are many opportunities for local art lovers to attend these types of shows, but what is different about ours is that we focus on quality, not quantity. The public can expect to walk through our show and be wowed by the magnificent art that will be presented, says Matt Bowman, the Festivals Organizer. With many people hosting Super Bowl Parties that weekend, its the perfect time for patrons to pick up that one-of-a-kind conversation piece just in time for the party.

Sponsored by Evergreen Development Company,the festivaltakes place from 10 am to 5 pm, February 4 and 10 am to 4 pm February 5, in the parking lot in front of Basis Middle School near The California Design Center at 11155 N. Oracle Rd.

For more information about the Steam Pump Village Art Festival or Bowman Productions, please call 520.401.1290 or email matt@bowmanproductionsaz.com. Visit us online at www.bowmanproductionsaz.com or find us on Facebook.

If you go:

Where: Steam Pump Village Shopping Center 11155 N. Oracle Rd.

When: 10 am to 5 pm Saturday, Feb. 4 and 10 am to 4 pm Sunday, Feb. 5

Admission: Free

Info:www.bowmanproductionsaz.comor 520.401-1290

Incidentals: Several local restaurants to choose from