Downtown Naples Festival of the Arts took place on March 21-22 on a six block stretch of 5th Avenue in downtown Naples, Florida. I participated in this show a few years ago and did not do well, but I applied to this year as a backup for Winter Park, which ran on the same weekend this year. I was on the wait list for Winter Park and did not get an invitation, so Marcia and I showed up at 5:30 am for the dreaded early morning setup on Saturday morning. Some artists don't mind that early morning setup, but I hate them. It typically takes us 4 hours to set up and, being in our 60s, we are pretty tired by the time all the artwork is up. Then, its a 10-6pm art fair in hot weather.

Besides the early morning setup, new chairman Jody Agastos has a serious parking problem to contend with in this art fair. The big grassy field north and east of the art fair that has traditionally been for artist parking, is now being developed and is no longer available.

To compensate, the committee secured artist parking two miles away and provided shuttles for the artists. Jody also found a parking lot of the Women's Club just 1/2 block from 5th Avenue at Park Street. 40 spots were available on a first come first served basis for an additional $50. for the weekend if paid in advance. Marcia and I jumped at the closer parking and paid the $50 and were awarded the #34 spot. Of course, when we got there we found that our booth was way west on 5th avenue so our "close" parking was still five blocks away. Better than two miles, but still, pretty far.

On Sunday morning when we arrived to park in the Women's Club lot we discovered that the Women's Club was having an event that morning and all the parking spaces were taken by members. Jody was there trying her best to manage the situation (she was blind-sided by this unexpected event), and she graciously directed us to a temporary spot until the event ended and the Women left. We came back later to re park in more convenient spot.

Anyway, I don't think any artists were pleased with the parking situation. And, it seems to me that most of the Naples art fairs will have similar parking problems next year. I hope the committee will come up with a better solution next year.

One thing I like about this show is that artist booths are setup down the middle of 5th avenue, back to back in quads. That means that every booth is a corner booth. What I don't like is that there is very little storage space in back of each booth... maybe two feet that has to be shared between the back to back booths. And, artists are prohibited from storing stuff on the sidewalks because of the many shops, galleries and restaurants on 5th Avenue. Luckily, we were opposite a vacant storefront and we did manage to store some stuff on the sidewalk during the show.

Sales on Saturday were meager. We had lots of people coming by and had lots of positive feedback for our work, but few customers. I'm not sure why it is, but the clientele that come to the art fair in Cambier park for Naples National in February is much different than the people who come to this art fair. We closed up the tent at 6pm with about $800 in sales. A big disappointment.

Sunday was much better because we sold two large canvas prints bringing our Sunday total to just over $1700. Total take for the show was $2500. At most shows we typically sell 15-20 small framed prints for $56 each. I bring lots of extra frames with me and pop new pictures in the frames as I sell them. This low cost alternative has been a great product for us but at this show we only sold four of them. There just were not many paying customers at this show.

Like most shows, sales were good for some, and not so good for others. We kind of came in the middle. Not a terrible show, but not a great one either. The 5am setup and the dismal parking situation will probably make us think twice about applying to this show again unless these problems are addressed next year.

We're from Saugatuck, Michigan and this was our fifth show of our Florida "tour." The others were ArtiGras in Jupiter, South Miami, Lake Wales and Bonita Springs. We grossed around $16K for the five shows. Sounds good, but when you factor in gas, lodging and meals and all the application and booth fees, our profits were kind of slim. I've got some ideas about some better shows that I hope to get into next year, so, we'll be back. Of course it is always up to the jury which shows we ultimately get into.

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  • Thanks for your Florida reports, John. And thank you for sharing sales figures, it really helps those who are trying to figure out whether or not to come to Florida. It may work better for people who live there already, but the overhead of spending five weeks away from home during tourist season is pretty hefty. (Of course you have to figure in you are getting a nice break between the shows, which is worth $$$, right?)

    Which of your five shows was the best? Was this your best grossing season? 

    I heard from a customer that there was a bunch of buy/sell in this show. From your vantage did you see any?

  • I would have blown a gasket if I had paid for a parking space and it was occupied when I got there. The reason why that will continue is because none of you have the chutzpah to give them the crap they deserve. I will never do another show in Naples. I find the attitude abominable. There are better alternatives. Take the weekend off. Have some fun.

  • John, thanks for your reports on your experiences coming to Florida.  Valuable info.

    I used to do that too, from Wisconsin starting in 1987 and later from California in the 1990s. In 1995 I moved here to be near the shows in the winter season.  As you know, I also live in Saugatuck, MI for the summer.  See you in May.

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