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I just got home from a great 3 week run in SE Florida.  Left 85 degree weather yesterday and many many hours later arrived to 28 degrees here in Atlanta :(  At least I am in my own bed now and don't have to eat out anymore.  My DH suprised me with an IPAD for Christmas, but they aren't great for typing on, so I decided to wait to write a review until I got to a computer with a keyboard and do a wrap up review. (This is a long one Connie so I know you will need to do lots of editing;) 

Last year I rented a place for 3 months in Florida and did shows January, February and March along the east coast of Florida.  This year I have work to do in February in Atlanta so I was only able to go to Florida for the month of January.

First weekend was Las Olas Part I.  This is the third Las Olas I have done, second time for Part I.  The crowd is usually mixed with the main market for me being recently retired people who have moved to The Fort and some 30 something Miami people.   I now know that staying at The Riverside is the only way to go for me.  It is totally worth the expense since I believe I sell better having the convience and comfort of The Riverside.  I arrived early on Friday and was able to enjoy the pool, shops and the great Friday happy hour, and figure out my booth spot/ parking.  The lot I usually like to use, which is convient to my booth had gone up from $20 a day to $50 a day!!!  No way was I going to pay $150 for parking.  The Riverside worked with me and the valets dealt with my van for the price I wanted in almost the same location as the $50 a day lot.   They gave me a room that overlooked my booth space and after a great dinner on Las Olas with artist friends  I was as comfortable as one can be the night before the early morning L. Olas set up.  (One thing I love about The Riverside is the wake up call person.  Every time I set up the really really really early  wake up call time they laugh at me ;)  When I woke up I was able to look out my window and see that the street was clear so I got my van and unloaded/parked easily.  We had sometime before we could start setting up so all the booth neighbors discussed their needs and we figured out the best way to set up for all of us.  Booths have been discussed many many times for this show so I don't feel I need to go into anymore detail about this.  Set up went pretty easily and I was back in my room taking a nap  before the show.  It did start to rain during set up and for the first part of the show.  Since SE Snow Birds have to have the most perfect of art show weather to show up (not too cold=below 70 degrees, no rain, not too cloudy but not too sunny=go to the beach)  the crowds were not the normal L. Olas Part I crowds.   I did make a few sales and some hopefuls for Sunday.  I had mixed feelings on Saturday night when I didn't have any deliveries.  I was really too tired to deliver, but no deliveries means no big sales.  Sunday the weather was much better and so was the crowd.  It still never got crazy crowded at my end but a good amount of shoppers.   The hopefulls came or called back.  My smaller pieces usually do well in Las Olas, and they did again this year.  I was all out of my smaller sizes by the end of the show and had one big delivery to make after tear down.  Tear down went as smoothly as possible.  I was pulling out of the show by 7:30 and on the way to Miami to make my delivery, which was perfect since I was staying in Miami for that night.

I was staying in Miami for the night because Monday morning a group of us were cruising out of Port of Miami between shows.  I had gotten this tip from another artist last year when I was in Florida.  Great idea and I highly recommend doing this.  It is cheaper than staying on land and lots of fun.  I was worried that it would limit me for follow up visits and sales but really I had a good amount of Monday and most of Friday after the cruise to deal with follow up stuff. 

Friday back from the Cruise, did some L. Olas stuff then went to Boca Raton.  Boca Raton where the people are really rich, older, retired Snow Birds, love to buy expensive art and are VERY high maintenance.  Got a great rate at The Courtyard, practically walking distance to the show and great restaurants all around, plus they had laundry!  The set up at Boca Fest is much easier then Las Olas.  You don't have to get up at a crazy hour everyone has tons of space.  I am able to blow the back out and make another room and some people bring an extra tent.  Parking was a bit crazy this year.   We had a new, closer place to park for free, but it rained Saturday morning (again) and the sand/dirt lot got messy and full fast.  We were told we could park in the same spot as last year, again pretty close but later were told we couldn't.  It was a pain to go move the cars but the HA team was great about watching out for us to make sure we wouldn't be ticketed or towed and contacted all of us that needed to be moved.  The place we needed to move to was just as convenient, just a different spot.  By the time the show started the rain had stopped and the shoppers came.  Lots of expensive art was leaving the show.  I know  what West Boca wants from me is not the same as the east part of SE Florida, but I was not able, or organized enough to pack the very packed van with all the right art for an entire booth set up of West Boca art.  Saturday I had hopefulls.  Sunday the weather was great and before the show even started some of the hopefuls called me with good news.  Sunday sales were better and by the end of the day I had my deliver runs figured out.  At the end of the show I decided to do my deliveries before I dealt with tear down.  So off I went with ID in hand to visit all the super mega gated communities that are such a PIA to deal with especially on Sundays with a Cargo Van.  I got back around 6:30 and was out by 7:30.  Easy in and out at this show.  Boca was a decent show for me, but something about Boca kills a part of your soul and I just never feel as happy about the show until I get out of that town for at least a day.  Still it is a great show to do between shows and I made some money and it felt great to tell a couple people to go to hell when they tried to negotiate with me on price late on Sunday because they figured I "needed" the sale.  ( I don’t think I told them to go to hell actually, but in my head that is what it sounded like)

Back to Miami on Sunday night where I decided to stay on land for the week.  I rented a 1 bedroom duplex in Coral Gables for the week and was really happy I did.  It was so nice to have an actual kitchen, living room and my own laundry.  I mainly wanted to sleep and do nothing that week and that is what I pretty much did.  I was able to meet with my SE Florida reps one day, found excellent Peruvian and Cuban food and I speak much better Spanish then I did before I arrived :)  On Thursday some of us artists met at Wynwood design district.  If you are in Miami you must do this.  I think this was my favorite day of my trip.  Excellent work, exciting area and very inspiring.  Beaux Arts has a Friday set up, yeah!!!!!  I find doing three travel shows by myself in a row very tiring and by the third show having the last show be a Friday set up is great.  For this show we received a ton of information and rules many times.  We had pages on set up procedures, but nothing about where we were actually suppose to go.  Since the show is affiliated with the Lowes Museum on The University of Miami campus I was brilliant enough to figure out that that might be the location to go to to get our artists packets, and it was.  The volunteers were all very nice junior league type women, and there was a bunch of them.  They were very helpful with what they wanted to help with.  With what they couldn’t help with you were on your own.   Not a big deal since the other artists at the show are great and everyone seemed to try and work together.  My spot was easy to get to and set up.  All very civilized and smooth except for the crazy tree trunks running through  out my booth and the booths around me.  Some of the booths are on grass and some are on pavement.  I did buy a corner booth, and depending on your location you had a ton of space and could blow out, or you were packed in tightly.  I was packed in pretty tight and I was in what one of the other artists liked to call "The St James Inner Court".   It was the first time I was doing this show and all the artist in this so called court were doing the show for the first time as well.   Friday night and early Saturday morning it rained, and it rained a lot.  So far it had rained every Saturday morning on this trip.  Luckily by the time I got to the show to open up my booth the rain had stopped and had stopped for the rest of the day.  The grass areas weren't too bad just wet.  The pavement folks set up in the parking lots probably had some puddles but nothing too  bad.  From my inner court I could easily see lots and lots of people, young people too, just not in my area.  Getting over the tree roots was an issue for strollers, wheel chairs and general walkers.  Like I said I had a corner and one side of my booth there was a sidewalk so it was easier for people to get to me.  The good thing about being in the inner court was that the people who did come to see us really did want to see us.  They weren't just strolling they were shopping.  Lots of serious art buyers at this show.  People would come back 4,5,6 times to look and decided.  I had a few good sales on Saturday and figured if I had the same day on Sunday then I would be very happy to end my Florida run.  Sunday started off slow, like Saturday did.  This show definitely felt different than the other Florida shows I had done where people start shopping at 8:30 am.  The weather was beautiful and by the end of the day my booth was pretty bare.  Around 4pm a dog peed on my new weights and then these really big wild parrots showed up and pooped on my booth.  I figured it must be a sign of good luck.  At the end of the day I decided to do deliveries again before tearing down.  Getting in and out was going to be crazy so I wanted to wait for it to die down anyway.  When I got back to my booth at 6:15 pm it was very dark and there was a couple waiting for me in the middle of all the chaos of break down.  The husband had thought it was a three day show because of Martin Luther King Day.  Late in the day he found out it wasn't.  The wife was furious and even made the husband miss the end of the football game so they could make it back to the show before I left.   I only had two large pieces left and  they took both, in the dark!  That was a first for me.  They even brought a car big enough so I didn't have to deliver.  It was nice to be at a show where the artists were treated like artists and not vendors.  I packed up in the dark and got out by 8pm.  It all went pretty smoothly considering it was a free for all tear down, good job artists.  All the artists were great and helpful with each other.  Thank you to all the artists that kept an eye on me.

It was a great trip to Florida but I am glad to be home.  I hope to do the exact same thing next year in January.  I would eat at the same places, stay at the same places, do the same things, hopefully sell the same amount.  The only thing I would change is the last hotel I stayed in on my drive back to Atlanta.  Good Luck to the rest of you staying for the season.  Florida is a beautiful place to be this time of year.