This is a two day show (last weekend) with a Friday setup.Everybody has ample rear storage room.
The booths are setup in a rambling pattern with no definite pattern for crowd flow.
Booths down by the river are kind of cut off from the main flow, and a lot of the crowd never makes it there.
Bonita Springs is just north of Naples and slightly south of Estero on the Gulf Coast.
It is an affluent area with lots of golf course communities. The crowd tends to be 60 years and up. Not a lot of young ones to sell to.
But, you have lots of newcomers-retirees, many from the Midwest, who want to decorate their new homes in a Florida-style motif. So there is a market here to sell to.
They tend to be very conservative. They do not think outside the box. They love the birds, flora and fauna, and lots of beach imagery.
They like blown glass here. Almost every glass artist I talked to, killed here. My neighbor, Doug Sigwarth had a killer show. The Slades ruled as usual.
Overall, I saw a few big 2-D pieces go by each day, but they were few and far between.
This is a tightly juried show, with little if any buysell present. The staff is out and about and takes care of any problems pronto.
They do a nice artist breakfest every day and have boothsitters. Teardown is very mellow, just like the setup.
Personally, I did about the same as last year, not great, but I made a profit.
On this date you have the choice of doing a mostly craft show up by Homosassa Springs, a big ugly crafty-buy sell show at Cape Coral, or a Bill Kinney Paragon show in Sarasota. Oh, I just remembered, there is also Beaux Arts, down by Miami, good luck with that.
Personally, I will probably stick with Bonita Springs.
January is always a tough month to make money in. You take what you can get and hope to make the most out of it.
I have this weekend off, then the last weekend of the month I have Images in New Smyrna Beach, my old hometown in the 1980s.
Ironically, Ellen and I are selling our historic Ybor home to our neighbor, and, our next place to live—New Smyrna Beach. This is a very mellow beach town and you can still drive your car on the beach.
We are both very excited to going there, will keep you posted.
Later Gators—In a while, crocodile.
Comments
Promenade got sold awhile back, doing thriving biz now, btw, the art center was never going to be by the show, it is mucho blocks away.
Connie, if you drive on 41 from Naples, when you hit old 41 make a right and it's past the Art Center. They were supposed to build a performing arts center near the show that would attract a better clientele. When I did it, the Promenade had a lot of empty stores.
Bonita Show is held on a city park that borders both sides of Old 41 which is about a mile east of the Promenade site.
There is a light mix of retail and restaurants in the area, there is ample parking, trouble is, it does not draw the same class of buyers that went to the Promenade.
I know we've been over this before, but where is this show held? Since they left the Promenade I'm lost. A Park? (and on that note also, how in the world could a place like the Promenade get in financial trouble? On the Gold Coast in Florida ... ??)
I agree with you. The show is close, it is consistent, you know the lay of the land, you need January money and you know the kind of customers who will be there, making it as reliable as a show can be. Not expecting a landslide, but keeping the bills paid up. And you can play golf on Monday.
And now I'm going to go off topic. Dennis, can you tell me more about Beaux Arts? I heard they moved the location on the campus, making it not as convenient.
I like the Bonita shows. I haven't done one since they started redoing the street. The timing hasn't fit in with my schedule, but, they are good, solid, well run shows. I intend to go back at some point. Maybe next year. Luckily, I didn't apply this year. I've had to cancel all my January shows because the weather has been so brutally cold. Until this week, it has been too cold to fire pots outside.
Thanks for the information. Beaux Art show was not what it was last year, new location and another big show going on the same time in Miami. Everyone I talked to did not do well.