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I was looking for a show for Feb 25-26. Marcia and I are down here in Florida from Michigan for a couple of months and, to make it work, we have to cram in as many shows as we can. Its expensive down here in the winter. I stay away from shows that are organized by professional promoters, preferring shows that are put on by arts groups and community organizations. The one in Bradenton fit the bill so I applied and got in. Its a small show with less than 100 artists, and this is only their second year at this location. Nels laughed at me and predicted I wouldn't even crack a thousand. But, what the heck, an open date... why not give it a try.

The show is in a parking lot just off a highway in Bradenton. I wasn't impressed with the location. Load in was easy and setup on Friday afternoon (after 1pm) was leisurely (I like that). We kept our van in front of the booth for the whole time (I like that too). Organizers were very low key and let the artists self organize their own set up. I think its much easier for that to happen in a small show. Booth spaces were large and cost less that $200 (can't remember exactly). At 12 x12, we were able to work with our neighbor and establish a side wall with an aisle 3-feet wide.

Saturday, the show went from 10-5 and it looked like Nels' prediction was right. Turnout was very light and we only made $635 for the day. I didn't expect much from this show, so wasn't terribly disappointed. I thought that with a few sales on Sunday,  I would surpass Nel's $1000 prediction.

Sunday started out about the same as Saturday with a sprinkling of sales in the morning. The show was scheduled for 10-4pm (another thing I like, allowing us to fully break down before dark). By noon it looked like Nels prediction was right. The few people walking around were not buying much from any of us.

Now, I am always amazed by the group dynamics at art fairs. I have no idea what kind of karma in the air would create such a drastic change in the buying habits of the public. It could be that the organizers were requiring all attendees to leave their wallets behind... until about 12:30. Suddenly, the wallets came out and people started buying stuff. And it wasn't only in my booth. Many other artists were selling stuff too.

I'm a digital artist and I sell prints of my surrealistic pictures with environmental issues as their theme. My smallest print is $28, and I usually can count on those prints to pay the bills. But, Sunday at this show, after 12:30, my larger framed prints started selling and I even sold one of my large canvas prints. This buying frenzy went on until about 3pm, when it stopped as suddenly as it began. (huh?)

Anyway, we made $2600 in those couple of hours, bringing our total for the show at over $3200. I was amazed and delighted. You just never know who is going to show up. The weather was next to perfect for this show with mostly sunny skies and mostly low winds (a bit windy on Sunday morning). Load out was equally easy as all the artists self-organized. We were out of there by about 6pm.

Next up for us is Bonita Springs next weekend. We've had a pretty good winter season so far. Hopefully it will continue.