I am a newbie to Florida. I am planning on doing 3 shows in Feb. Mount Dora vs. Hobe Sound. Bonita Springs, have not heard yet, vs. Coconut Point. And the last weekend Coconut Grove vs. Artigras. I have heard Coconut Grove keeps going downhill and more commercial but is it still a money making show. I have a free place to stay in FT. Lauderdale which is way closer to Coconut Grove but Coconut Grove is twice the price of Artigras. Any comments on any of these shows to Midwesterner? By the way, I make funky jewelry out of fossils and gold ranging in price from $29 to $2800. HELP please.
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Nels types with his thumbs. It's hard to hit the L key without hitting the K key first.
From a business standpoint, you wouldn't look at it as one show is twice the price of the other show. It would be that your expenses are $400 more to do the Grove. So, you ask yourself if you think you would do at least $400 more at the Grove, than either Artigras or St Stephens. The only real way to know that is by trying the events and seeing for yourself. It doesn't matter whether I've done those shows because I may come to a different conclusion than you. Btw, I've only done the Grove. If you really want to know the answers to your question use the search function on the top right of every page on this site. This question gets asked every year. If you do that, I think there will be no question as to which show to do.
One tip here: Unless there's a faster way to go, it's bumper to bumper on I-95, so give yourself time to get to the show. It's 35 miles from Ft Lauderdale to the show, so, if there is no traffic it would take at least 50 minutes to get to your space under optimal conditions.
Barry is right about how bad the traffic is (and he hates it) but Saturday and Sunday are easy drives from the north. I live south of the Grove and on a Saturday morning it only took me 40 minutes to get to Las Olas in Ft. Lauderdale.
I haven't done Coconut Grove before, but I heard good things about it. Sunshine Artist ranks it #4 this year. But I have a related question. I have juried into the St. Stephens Show and I am #1 on the wait list for Coconut Grove. St Stephens is #54 in Sunshine Artist and costs $450, Coconut Grove costs $750. St Stephens charges $2 to get in, Coconut Grove charges $10 to get in. What are the opinions out there? Should I hold out for Coconut Grove? Is it that much better than St. Stephens? Or should I just go for St. Stephens? I understand they are right next to each other.
Ditto what Jim said. I'd never suggest you drive all the way from Michigan to do St. Stephens, unless you want a reason to go to Florida for awhile and use it as a write off! Never, not for you, John. Not that CG is always that fabulous, but at least you will get a chance to see people who might be interested in buying art. Knowing your work I think you would die financially at St. Stephens, unless you were lucky enough to have one of the extreme outer edges of the show, but I'd bet those would be taken by seniority.
By the way... Trying to line up 7 Florida shows in Feb and March. So far I've gotten confirmation on Ft Myers, Winter Park, and Naples. Should hear from the "middle" edition of Bonita soon. Have to decide by Dec 3 whether to go with st Stephens or Arti GRAS... Or hold out for an invitation to Coconut Grove.
John, St. stephens isn't bad but there are a lot of bad spaces there--Artigras tends tobe a lowend sekking show for most.
Please define "sekking."
Looks like Nels hit the "K" key instead of the "L" key...
John
We did St. Stephens once. It has many bad spots, the layout is labyrithine. Some spots were in an alley by the dumpster one year. The spots nearest to Coco Grove are okay, but many are poor. The quality of the art at St. Stephens is much lower than at the Grove, as well. We could smell the potpourri vendor from ten booths away.
St. Stephens arranges parking with the school next door, but they charge over $100 for the weekend. They even tried to get me to pay more by sending me a letter a month after the show ended. The Grove lets you park in the Expo Center parking lot for $40 for the weekend.
Load in to St. Stephens in miserable. Almost everyone has to dolly. Some spots in the parking lot outside the school setup last, and break down first so that others can use the lot for load-in. It's managed poorly. The year we did it we got out of there around 10PM. Patience is definitely a virtue here.
The Grove also has some bad spots. I was in one last year, at the very end of Pan American Drive. It wasn't the worst spot, but it got less traffic than the spots on McFarlane/Bayshore -- the main drag.
If I had a choice, I'd wait for the Grove, as I will never do St. Stephens again. The Grove is that much better.
Everything Jim said is true. I did St. Stephens once and will never return. Also remember that the rest of the prices (food, lodging, parking) etc. are just as high whether you do the Grove or St. Stephens.
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