Lake Wales is a sleepy little town in the middle of Florida not far from Legoland. Demographics are mostly budget-conscious retirees, so big sales are not to be expected at this show. This year Lake Wales was scheduled the same weekend as Gasparilla in Tampa so it may have been a second choice for many artists here (like me). Prize money is generous for a small show like this ($17K), so it attracts some artists who enter strictly for the prize money.
The show is set up in two sections. One section is down by the lake and the other, larger section is close, just across a park roadway. Artists by the lake park close by in a designated area in the grass. Artists in the other section, where I was, can park behind their booths. Booth size is large at about 14 feet wide and and equally deep.
There were two judges for this show and the committee did a good job of "training" them. They required each judge to spend a minimum amount of time in each booth and to pass out a business card produced by the committee to insure that every artist is fairly evaluated. Even though I did not receive an award I like this system.
With rain in the forecast we set up conservatively keeping three sides zipped down tight in anticipation of the weather. On this cloudy morning we used our new 12-volt LED lighting system for the first time. I'm glad I spent the time and money on this system. It really made the artwork pop.
Buying energy was encouraging early in the show on Saturday. Many of us nervously watched the weather maps as the storms tracked north of us inundating Gasparilla with tons of water. We were secretly relieved and a little cocky about our little fair being spared the floods that were hitting Tampa and Gasparilla. Second hand rumors and phone calls from Gasparilla artists made us feel we might be spared the misery that they were feeling.
We did just over $1K before the weather caught up with us. the storms tracked south and we were hit with two inches of torrential rain at around 3pm. It rained so hard we thought it might pass quickly, but it didn't. The grass of the park got saturated and started flooding with some booths being ankle deep in water and mud. The committee shut down the show at around 3:30.
Since we planned ahead it was easy to just zip up the front panels and get out of Dodge. We had dinner on that rainy evening at Manny's Restaurant, a local eatery run by a colorful, uozo-drinking, Zorba-the-Greek type entrepreneur who spent a lot of time at the bar partying with the locals.
When we arrived at the fair on Sunday we were happy to see that most of the standing water had soaked into the grass. We wiped things down the best we could and rolled up the front panels. No damage. All the artwork dry (I'm a digital artist with limited edition prints on paper and canvas). The weather was pretty good but rain was still in the forecast, especially big percentage for 5pm at teardown. I rearranged the van for a quick getaway incase we got hit again. Fortunately we only got a few sprinkles on Sunday, but it was enough to keep the buyers away. We had meager sales that day and wound up with just under $1400 for the weekend. Not enough to make us want to return next year.
Although sales were disappointing, and I did not receive an award, there are a lot of good things about this show. First, we got hit with lots of rain but, unlike Gasparilla, the committee was wise enough to shut down the show.
- The grassy park was able to absorb most of the flooding overnight.
- The judging system is well planned and as fair as I've seen.
- Booth size is generous and I love to be able to park right behind the booth.
- And, the committee is wise enough to know that artists can manage the setup and tear down all by themselves without a bunch of rules and schedules.
- Setup on Friday went smoothly and teardown on Sunday was a breeze.
Most artists have done this a million times and are polite and accommodating among themselves. Got next weekend off. We'll be on the beach at Indian Rocks Beach until the following weekend when we go to Bonita Springs for one of Barry Witt's extravaganzas. I haven't done Bonita since Barry moved the show to the park, so I'm looking forward to it.
