My Florida schedule is slimmer than last year. I'm doing Gasparilla and Winter Park, then flying home to Michigan for a month. Then I'll be doing the Mainsail Art Fair in St. Pete on April 20-21. I was planning to head back to Michigan with my trailer after that show, but I was just invited to participate in the Melbourne Art Fair on the 27th and 28th of April. I've never done that show but notice that it was ranked #39 by Sunshine Artist Mag. Now I have to decide whether to stay in Florida for another week so I can do the Melbourne show. Anyone out there done Melbourne? I noticed that my friend Ellen Marshall won an award last year. Nels, did you do the show too?
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I have participated in the Melbourne Art Festival, first several years ago downtown and then last year where it is now being held in Wickham Park. The Wickham Park location was much better for me all the way around. Sales were great and so was show attendance. The park location is easy and you don't have to worry about when the bars let out at night!
Thanks, Eric. I'm still trying to decide. Its probably another $1000 in expenses if I do the show and stay an extra week. Looking at the demographics of the area and the 11% unemployment rate, it gives me pause. We'll see. Thanks a bunch for the great info you provided. Its much appreciated.
Just looked up your work John... I would say do it. You have more than enough nautical / tropical themed items to appeal to the Melbourne crowd and do well.
I have only done the spring Melbourne festival once, but I am from that area originally and am pretty familiar with the show and the type of people that are in the area. There seems to be a number of factors that effect having a good show here. Two of the most important being the content of your work and the booth location you get.
The layout for the show isn't anything too crazy. There is one major street going through the historic downtown Melbourne area and the majority of the booths are along this route with booths on both sides of the street. There is however about two or three streets that intersect the main street and the show goes down these streets in two directions for a block. If you end up with one of these side streets you are likely to get less traffic than the main street. Especially if you get stuck at the very end of one of the side streets. Overall though the crowds at this show are pretty strong.
Like most coastal Florida towns there are definitely people with money there... just not as many as in other regions of Florida. You have your doctors and lawyers like most places but the primary employers in Melbourne are mostly technology companies such as Harris, Rockwell-Collins, Northrop-Grumman and things of that type. A lot of the people there are working class and there are not nearly as many wealthy retirees as there are in other areas of Florida. This area was also hit fairly hard by the drop in the housing market and the ending of the Space shuttle program. So their economy is still a little shaky.
From what I have witnessed at this show in the past the content of your work seems to determine how well you will do here the most. This is a crowd that really likes things that are nautical. Boats, ocean scenes and Florida themed items usually seem to do well. They also seem to be fairly traditional in their tastes in most items, anything too avant-garde is probably not going to go over real well here.
I did not do great here last year. I was on a side street and if it wasn't for a gallery owner that I already sell to picking up a couple pieces from me I would have only broken even. Most people around me with the exception of a wood worker that sold functional low cost kitchen items did not seem to do that well. A friend that does black and white Florida photography did fairly well, but he has done multiple shows in the area and has established something of a presence. A digital artist I know only did ok. A sculptor that has slightly out there work was so bored he was falling asleep in his tent.
Despite not doing that well I probably would have done the show again this year. Mainly because it is only an hour away from me and I have family to stay with in the area. I just forgot about the deadline being on new year's eve so I didn't even apply.
I would say that you should look at the costs involved for the show and evaluate whether your work is going to appeal to a crowd that has a "good ol' boy" / traditional mindset in determining whether the show is worth it or not. Coming all the way from St. Pete and staying an extra week definitely would be some added cost. The show does have some good prize money though. I see you have yourself listed as "Digital", just keep in mind that the award categories at Melbourne lumps digital art and photography into a single category called "digital". Traditional photographers have to settle for being called "other".
I've done Melbourne three times and have always done well. There is a lot of prize money available and they do a lot of purchase award dollars. They have a music festival as well Sat. night and it apparently gets pretty rowdy. Each time I have done the show I have arrived Sunday morning to find something disgusting behind my booth generally puke. But the Melbourne people are very responsive and all I had to do was bring it to their attention and they cleaned it up right away. The first time I did the main road and setup was really a mess. You are supposed to drop your stuff and park but when I tried to do that I could not get my van out due to all the vans parked every which way. In fact it was an hour after setup before I could get my van out and since setup starts at 6PM it made for a long evening. After that I requested a side street which was much easier setup but possibly less foot traffic. They give you 12' spaces and require that you setup at the edge of your area. Then the person next to you sets up at the edge in the opposite direction. Which means everyone can display on one outside wall. It is a brilliant idea that I wish more shows would do.
Ahh, good point! I'm very pleased to be #2
Geoff, I don't want to muddy the waters here, but I had gotten an email waitlist notice also, and after seeing your post, I looked at Zapp. We are both Number 2. What do you think of that? Think that there are more #2s out there? I have had other waitlist notices with that number and gotten in, but never known that I was one of "several" in the same slot!
If I decide to do the show I'll look you up in Melbourne, Geoff.
I applied for the first time this year and got a "waitlist" letter today. Then, when I logged into Zapp, I saw that it showed me as "Number 2 on the Waitlist." So I gotta figure my odds are pretty good.
Didn't know Zapp could display waitlist status. Wish all shows used it.