OMG -- I hope you are not doing an art fair in Florida this weekend! Here are two reports on the January 9 and 10 Cape Coral Art Festival:
Visitors come out for fair despite weather
Cape Coral Draws about 10,000
Does anyone have a report on Beaux Arts in Coral Gables?
How about Dunedin or Boca Fest?
How about some tips on how to stay warm outside when the weather has other ideas?
I did Beaux Arts on Jan 9 & 10, and lived to tell the story. Saturday it rained all day and never got above 45. Shortly after opening, event organizers came around and mercifully said we could close without penalty. My husband and I high tailed it out of there, opting for long lunch in a warm restaurant with margaritas (I thought of you, Nels). The artist next to me stayed the entire(!) day and told me he had a total of six people come through his booth.
Sunday was really cold all day, and the crowds were light. I did surprisingly well, and an unusually high percentage of people who visited my booth bought something -- mainly multiples of my smaller paintings. I had donated a painting for the Friday night auction, and it went for a good price (according to some of my buyers) with a number of people bidding on the painting. I'm pretty sure that a lot of my visitors/buyers on Sundays had been at the Friday auction and specifically came to visit me. That auction item plus the fact that it was my first time there at the show, made all the difference.
I didn't know about those propane heaters but will definately get one! I came down with a nasty cold/flu the day after the show.
Hoping for better weather at Ft. Lauderdale, Boca, and St. Stephens.
The jeweler next to me had 2 propane heaters, I minded her booth, it was great. She said it isn't easy to find ones that tilted toward her, that was great. I am definitely looking for any kind of heater to have on hand. I could have used one this Summer up North. I am off to Venice this weekend, although the show to do is Bonita, I didn't apply to that one. It is forcast to rain 50%, my sister is in Sarasota, so I have two reasons to do this one. At least it will be warmer this weekend. I HOPE
8:36 A.M. — A painter from Merritt Island won best of show during the Cape Coral Festival of the Arts, which will be remembered more for the bizarre weather conditions than what was being sold.
Roy Schallenberg's paintings won the Best of Show category.
Visitors braved rain and extremely cold temperatures on Saturday and sunny, but cold conditions on Sunday. After poor attendance on Saturday because of the weather, crowds picked up on Sunday, according to festival officials.
Other winners:
Jewelry: 1. Obayana Ajanaku, Decatur, Ga.; 2. Marc-Sara Aune, St. James City; 3. Douglas Bradow, Stuart.
Photography: 1. Jim Copeland, Chamblee, Ga; 2. Robin Smillie, Tampa; 3. Ellen Marshall, Ybor City.
Painting: 1. Carol Elder Napoli, New Smyrna Beach; 2. Kevin Liang, Brooklyn, NY; 3. Kuei Y. Dorman, Orlando.
Fine crafts: 1. Greg Schatz, Nashville, Ind.; 2. Joseph Bower, Dover, Ohio; 3. Sally Storsberg, Englewood.
Sculpture: 1. James Vanderlind, Tulsa, Okla.; 2. Werner Holzbauer, Bradenton; 3. Kelly Williamson, Lehigh Acres.
Mixed meda: 1. Veronica and David Bennett, Winston-Salem, N.C.; 2. Bonnie Eastwood, Hudson; 3. Parry Dolle, Winter Springs.
What is interesting to me is that there are a fair number of travelers in Florida for this event from out-of-state. This show was never on my radar. Though I'm thinkin' we were too smart to try to do an outdoor show in Florida before February. Possible?
In 15yrs of doing shows, Saturday at Cape Coral was the coldest and most miserable day I have ever experienced. There were a few people wandering around with umbrellas and some booths never opened. Unfortunately for us, we were on the row facing north and Sunday was cold as well. Our sales were just ok on Sunday. Cape Coral is always a wonderful show....too bad the weather didn't cooperate.
I did Cape Coral, and although the attendance estimates for Saturday were, IMHO, highly inflated--1500 would be more like it--we got a break on Sunday as the steady 25-35 mph winds forecasted never materialized. It was actually pretty nice in the sun. So attendance was decent--I'm guessing 15-20,000--and me (a photographer) and my neighbors (a sculptor and seller of customized straw and cowboy hats and apparel-- did pretty well.
There's nothing special to keeping warm in the cold weather: wear layers of clothing, not just a single jacket or coat. And wear two pair of (thermal) socks. Cotton socks don't cut it, because they don't wick the dampness away from your skin.
I never thought it would be too cold for me to go to an art fair. It can be. We went to Beaux Arts morning, preferring cold and dry to the cold and wet of yesterday. It wasn't much better. I asked a couple of artists what happened yesterday and they said pretty much everyone packed it in after an hour since it was so miserable out. Yesterday was the ugliest day in my 7 years in Florida. It rained the entire day and the temperatures started in the low 50's and dropped from there. The wind was pretty strong, and constant. It wasn't pretty.
People did go to today but I wasn't there long enough to tell if there was a lot of buying.
As for the festival itself, weather aside, the quality was pretty good, but they seem to be expanding the number of booths. They moved the food to one end and used that space for booths. The area where there were tents for sitting and eating has been replaced by more booths. I also thought that the placement of some of the artists wasn't good. When 3 out of 4 consecutive booths are jewelers, that doesn't seem to fair.
When you are as cold as I was, you don't wander leisurely, make more than one circuit of the festival or necessarily even remember where that bracelet was that you thought you liked.
Comments
Sunday was really cold all day, and the crowds were light. I did surprisingly well, and an unusually high percentage of people who visited my booth bought something -- mainly multiples of my smaller paintings. I had donated a painting for the Friday night auction, and it went for a good price (according to some of my buyers) with a number of people bidding on the painting. I'm pretty sure that a lot of my visitors/buyers on Sundays had been at the Friday auction and specifically came to visit me. That auction item plus the fact that it was my first time there at the show, made all the difference.
I didn't know about those propane heaters but will definately get one! I came down with a nasty cold/flu the day after the show.
Hoping for better weather at Ft. Lauderdale, Boca, and St. Stephens.
8:36 A.M. — A painter from Merritt Island won best of show during the Cape Coral Festival of the Arts, which will be remembered more for the bizarre weather conditions than what was being sold.
Roy Schallenberg's paintings won the Best of Show category.
Visitors braved rain and extremely cold temperatures on Saturday and sunny, but cold conditions on Sunday. After poor attendance on Saturday because of the weather, crowds picked up on Sunday, according to festival officials.
Other winners:
Jewelry: 1. Obayana Ajanaku, Decatur, Ga.; 2. Marc-Sara Aune, St. James City; 3. Douglas Bradow, Stuart.
Photography: 1. Jim Copeland, Chamblee, Ga; 2. Robin Smillie, Tampa; 3. Ellen Marshall, Ybor City.
Painting: 1. Carol Elder Napoli, New Smyrna Beach; 2. Kevin Liang, Brooklyn, NY; 3. Kuei Y. Dorman, Orlando.
Fine crafts: 1. Greg Schatz, Nashville, Ind.; 2. Joseph Bower, Dover, Ohio; 3. Sally Storsberg, Englewood.
Sculpture: 1. James Vanderlind, Tulsa, Okla.; 2. Werner Holzbauer, Bradenton; 3. Kelly Williamson, Lehigh Acres.
Mixed meda: 1. Veronica and David Bennett, Winston-Salem, N.C.; 2. Bonnie Eastwood, Hudson; 3. Parry Dolle, Winter Springs.
What is interesting to me is that there are a fair number of travelers in Florida for this event from out-of-state. This show was never on my radar. Though I'm thinkin' we were too smart to try to do an outdoor show in Florida before February. Possible?
There's nothing special to keeping warm in the cold weather: wear layers of clothing, not just a single jacket or coat. And wear two pair of (thermal) socks. Cotton socks don't cut it, because they don't wick the dampness away from your skin.
People did go to today but I wasn't there long enough to tell if there was a lot of buying.
As for the festival itself, weather aside, the quality was pretty good, but they seem to be expanding the number of booths. They moved the food to one end and used that space for booths. The area where there were tents for sitting and eating has been replaced by more booths. I also thought that the placement of some of the artists wasn't good. When 3 out of 4 consecutive booths are jewelers, that doesn't seem to fair.
When you are as cold as I was, you don't wander leisurely, make more than one circuit of the festival or necessarily even remember where that bracelet was that you thought you liked.
Mother Nature was not kind this weekend.