Note: I reviewed this show a year ago.  Rather than rewrite half of the review, I'm providing a link here.

Howard Alan Events' Coconut Point "New Year's Weekend" art festival is a traditional kickoff to the winter season for Florida-based and snowbird artists alike.  In contrast with last year's show, which seemed to encounter some buying doldrums among the populace, this year's show had pretty heavy traffic and sales on Saturday.  Sunday's feeding frenzy never marterialized,  partly because of the weather front that moved through around 8:30 AM, bringing high winds, and partly the local weathercasts, which tend to scare the bejezus out of the locals every time it looks like winds might kick up or showers threaten to make folks turn on their windshield wipers.  (Note to residents and forecasters: Hurricane Season ended on December 1.  Take a deep breath, already!!!!)

If I seem testy about this, it's understandable:  Saturday put me on pace for a record Coconut Point show, and I wasn't happy that, at least until 3 PM Sunday , crowds were less than a quarter what they had been on Day One.  I was sitting at about $150 for the day until some late-day return customers dropped a few dimes and made it a decent day and show, if not a gangbusters one.   Other artists I polled reported about the same result: A solid paycheck for most (especially large-scale 2-D artists--a trend we noticed last year).  The jewelers I spoke with did OK to pretty well, and several said they appreciated that the show wasn't overloaded with their category.  Show quality was strong, and I did notice a lot of newer artists this year...or at least, artists I hadn't seen at other Florida HAE shows.  This is an affluent area, worth the $395 booth fee, and folks didn't seem afraid to spend, nor did they ask for discounts.

Howard Alan is known for thorough advertising/marketing, and he outdid himself with this show.  For example:  As a local, I subscribe to the "digital edition" of the Fort Myers News-Press, and every day in the week before the show, the paper's "top 5 stories" email included an ad for the show.  There was a heavily-promoted free drawing, Pinterest boards, and TV advertising...including early morning standups by each of the three TV news stations.  Don't know how an artist could ask for more.

Setup on Friday is a piece o'cake: Good directions to the site, a quick check-in, and well-marked spaces set, in Howard Alan style, nearly pole to pole but with lots of space behind for storage.  Tear-down on Sunday went smoothly, but it requires patience:  The artist parking is about a six-minute walk, at the far reaches of the movieplex parking lot.  (There's an artist shuttle running in the morning, but not during breakdown.)  You could bring your vehicle near the perimeter of the show site at 5 PM, if you could find a spot (it's a VERY busymall), but a pass certifying that you had broken down your display was required to drive in front of your booth for loading. 

I was in a row conveniently situated along the edge of the show, and it was fine with HAE if we parked in the lot closest to the backside of our booth when the show closed, instead of joining a queue of vehicles to drive to the front side, as usual.  So we did...and although it required a bit of schlepping and dollying and patience (while awaiting a parking spot), things went smoothly and I was on the road by 7:30. 

I'm almost sorry I won't be attending the second installment of this show, on Valentine's Day weekend.  (I decided to try my hand at the Bonita Springs National instead, a few miles away, same weekend.)  Let's hope there are enough art buyers to make both shows thrive, and that another AFI reader will step up and review the February show. 

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  • I was also in this show. In fact, it was my first show in Florida ever. I usually take the holiday time to travel and shoot new work, but this year decided I'd head south for a few weeks and do a couple shows to see how it goes.

    I pretty much agree with Geoffs assessment. I didn't have a great show, but I did alright. I was in the black within the first 20 mins on Sat thanks to the sale of one of my larger photographs. I was hoping that momentum would continue, but it didn't. Sat was the better day for me money wise, although I made more sales on Sunday, but smaller ones. Over all it was an ok show to do for me since I was able to link it with Las Olas the following weekend where I did outstandingly well.
  • Great review, Geoff...sounds like you stay busy all year-round, good job!

  • Naples this weekend, then Cape Coral and Sarasota (Paragon).  Probably will be off the last weekend of the month; want to go up to TItusville for a workshop.

  • January is Las Olas, Boca Fest, Sarasota, and New Smyrna. You?
  • Thanks, Bill, for agreeing to write a review.  Where will you be in January?

  • Hi Geoff. Thanks for your usual good review. Glad to hear you had at least a paycheck show. We're doing Coconut Point in Feb. and will report back. (We did Bonita last year at the old location and heard from a number of dual-show attendees that the crowd was bigger at Coconut so of course we decided to head that way this year. Who knows?????
  • Thanks, Ruth!  What had you changed about your layout?

  • Coconut Point is usually good for me - last year excellent.  I had a lot of new work so tried a new booth layout Saturday and had a terrible day.  I don't know if the layout was why, but I stayed an extra hour Saturday to move it back to my old configuration.  Sunday sales were better but way off my "normal" - whatever normal is these days.  Around me, people were selling on Saturday, dead on Sunday.

  • Thanks, Shoshana (and good seeing you).  I wound up quite a bit better than last year, which was really a down year for me at that show. 

    I was next to a wind chime artist who, like you, sold poorly on Sat. but better on day 2.  I ascribed it to the stiff breezes, which really set off a cacophony of sound in his booth and far beyond.  Good advertising for him, I suppose!

  • I had exactly the opposite sales pattern - lousy in Saturday, gangbusters after 2 pm on Sunday.  Wound up doing a little better than last year, but until Sun. afternoon wasn't sure I'd get that far.  You're right about deep pockets.  Even those who bought multiple items didn't ask for a discount.  Although I did get a heck of a lot of stupid comments during the day (example:  "Where did you get your name?").   Couldn't think fast enough to say, " Same place you got yours".

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