Attendance was up but sales were down at last weekend's sixth Santa Fe International Folk Art Market.

"It could be anything from people buying less-expensive things to artists (who) brought things that were less-expensive," market spokeswoman Clare Hertel said. "I think given the economy, that's fabulous."

Market Executive Director Charlene Cerny said Monday that preliminary figures indicate total sales at the two-day market were slightly more than $1.9 million — down about 3.7 percent from the $2 million in sales in 2008.

Total ticket sales won't be known until Wednesday, Cerny said, but information from the city on tourists transported to Museum Hill by bus plus estimates of people arriving on foot or bicycle indicate about 23,000 people attended this year — up 12.7 percent from 20,400 last year.

She said she expects the attendance total to increase when attendance from smaller towns and youth groups are taken into consideration.

Hertel said she's not sure why more people spent less money. Figures from Saturday, the first day of the market, indicated sales were up from 2008, she said.

"The artists were prepared," Hertel said. "They knew because of the economic situation that they should bring more of the affordable stuff. But there definitely were some of the higher-ticket items there, too, for people who could do it."

One hundred and thirty-two artists from
46 countries attended this year's market which began in 2004 with 70 artists. Market officials say it is designed so that artists retain 90 percent of their sales.

Last year, the artists took home an average of $16,000 each. This year, the individual take was slightly less than $13,000.

Cerny said the New Mexico Rail Runner, which began runs to Santa Fe in December, may have helped attendance.

Rail Runner officials report the train moved 5,730 passengers on Saturday — the busiest day since free fares were available for Santa Fe residents during weekends in January.

"As far as the sales go, we had actually budgeted a 10-percent decrease in sales back in October when we saw what was going on with the economy," she said. "There was only a decrease of $76,000 over last year. So I'm not disappointed. I'm thrilled about that."

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.