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There were a few exceptions but the overall  the art at this festival is wonderful.  If you applied and did not get in, know that a really good artist got 'your' space. Actually way too many artists got your spaces.  At 380 artists, this is too large.  It makes it difficult to decide what to buy, to get back to the booths where you wanted to buy, heck, to remember where you saw what.  

As in the past, there are more vendor booths than at any other show I have ever been to.  It was actually worse this year.  There was hardly an empty space on the east side of Bayshore Drive that didn't have some vendor.  The only exception was the sculpture garden.  The Verizon booth was as big as ever and while quieter in the morning, it did get louder in the afternoon.  It didn't seem as pervasive and annoying as in years past so maybe they are getting the message,  this is an art festival, not a rock concert.  If there are going to be that many vendor booths, it would be nice if TPTB would cut down on the number of artist booths.  Give the artists a chance to make more money instead of divvying up the pie into so many smaller pieces.  

Most of the artists I spoke with were having decent to wonderful shows.  I didn't necessarily see a lot of packages as we walked around but the size of the show means a lot of deliveries by artists or holding of the art till the patron is ready to leave.  (or you bring bags to the car and return to the show to buy more, cough, cough)

The weather could not have been more perfect. The crowds were gigantic, making it difficult to navigate but in the coolness, you didn't mind.  It made it so much easier to wander the mile long stretch of tents.

I met Allan Teger and he has some wonderful new photos.  He is the nicest man along with his enormous talent.  He has a book of 114 of his photos which is now sitting on my coffee table.  (Connie, he asked me to send along his regards to you)

This year, instead of the artist dinner,  the artists were invited to a gallery opening in the Grove.  Sort of like a busman's holiday and to me seems like an insult to the artists at the festival.  Most galleries don't offer seating so that means after spending most of the day on your feet, you get to stand up some more.  And this is just more buying competition for the artists who certainly have enough with all those booths at the show.  You have to wonder what the people running the festival were thinking, or were they thinking at all.

Top notch art and perfect weather made for a wonderful weekend.  I can only hope that the artists enjoyed it as much as I did.