Hi All,
I'm just getting back into doing art festivals again after a 2 year hiatus. I worked the Space Coast Art Festival in Port Canaveral Florida last weekend and wondered how others did at the show. This was the first year of moving it from downtown Cocoa Beach to the Port, so I wonder how sales compared for others.
Here was my experience:
It was a mixed bag for me... I didn't have any prints as I am coming out with a new series and didn't have time. My paintings are very large, average 40 x 50, and abstract. Although I didn't sell anything at the show, one of my art students brought her friend to the show to see me and the friend bought two of my paintings the Monday after. I also won a second place award, which was $1200, which put me in the green. So I'm not sure whether I will return again since the paintings I did sell were a referral. And the prize money was great, but I would never count on that to do a show.
The good: the grounds were beautiful and really accommodated the huge show well. Crowds were good. We had at least 10 feet of room behind our booths and the walking lanes were wide enough to drive a car down. Set up was well organized with lots of volunteers. The awards procedure was also well organized and in a beautiful building overlooking the port. Parking was good and there was free camping for artists. The band stage was well away from the booths, so conversations could still be conducted, and there were plenty of food trucks all in a ring around the band area.
The bad: the free camping was across the street from a row of bars all with live bands. Music goes on late into the night so good luck getting sleep. I only had one offer of booth sitter while I was there. They had a morning artists breakfast, but it was continental and was cleaned out an hour before the show opened. The rest of the day the artist comfort station was abandoned. No water. I ended up buying water at the food trucks for myself and some other artists in my row, which was expensive. I didn't see security at all while setting up late into the night Friday. There was NO advertising at all for the show along the busy 528 beach-line coming into the beaches. On Sunday, we saw one little yard sign and that was it. There were way too many empty booth spaces at the show. I don't know if people just decided not to come or what?
I learned that when SCAF pulled out of Cocoa Beach, the business people in Cocoa Beach got mad and put together their own art show. There were about 90 artists at the cocoa beach show. Since the advertising was non-existent, many artists said their repeat customers went to downtown Cocoa Beach looking for them until the artist emailed or called to tell them to come to the Port.
Finally, the general consensus among all the artists was that no one sold well at all. We've all worked those shows where sales are so bad that's all anyone talks about. So I was hoping that maybe some others did well and I can hope for a better year next time if I decide to return.
Thanks in advance for sharing!
Chelly Harkness
acrylics
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