our coconut


This was our fourth Coconut and somehow turned out to be our best. We got lucky with a few big pieces sneaking their way through our Nurit along with the usual stack of cardboard that we usually sell. I call it cardboard when it isn't framed.

We stayed close to our booth this year. In previous years we have wandered the show and talked to people in St. Stephens along with the folks in the Sham Wow and Knife Sharpening Festival in the former expensive parking lot which is now an even more expensive art show. You can pay a thousand dollars and show off your painted rocks. It's nice to know that there are people around who can afford this sort of thing. I just wish they would use their money to buy art instead of paying huge bucks to just show it off.

The Coconut can be unpredictable when it comes to sales. At our first one in 2007 we did twice as well as a friend on Saturday. On Sunday we switched numbers almost exactly. No two years have shown anything like the same pattern.

Two friends of ours who did much better than we did last year didn't do as well as we did this year. They usually kick our butts pretty thoroughly in sales and will no doubt do it again soon. We just got lucky this year when an enlightened couple of apparently ample means bought our most expensive piece.

Nels Johnson (beneath whose crusty exterior beats the heart of a snarling misanthrope) was complaining about his totals and was seen trundling stuff out the gate a little before the show closed. He actually did about the same as we did, but the man is harder to please than most. After finally getting into the show after 25 years of rejection he really did deserve better. I don't blame him for being less than ecstatic.

Right after setup our corner caught a gust of wind that must have been about 70 MPH. About six tents went down around us and ours was skidded over a couple of feet with minimal damage. We had 65 pound weights on the corners and had screwed the feet of the tent onto the asphalt. The extra few seconds it took for the tent to rip out the screws apparently saved it from being blown into the bay.

All the bent tenters became tent renters and went on with the show, with the exception of the painter next to us who went without a canopy the entire three days. Fortunately the weather was cool and sunny so they were comfortable.

This is one of the few shows that will feed you every meal except at teardown. It may not be gourmet in every case but it's calories, folks. At the award dinner they had two kinds of rice that were very well prepared. It would have been nice had there been something to go with it besides salad. Halfway through the dinner they came out with cream puffs and key lime pie. There was enough for about a third of the crowd. The waiter brought out a tray that got cleaned out and went back through the swinging doors, apparently for more. Then he came out, leaned on the door, and watched us while we were waiting for the next batch. He enjoyed this for about ten minutes until someone asked him if there was any more coming. He smiled broadly, said they were out, and went back into the kitchen. I am not making that up.

Our setup and teardown went well since we are on a corner next to the info booth. We are able to park our van out of everyone's way during setup and teardown. We had made friends with the gate guard and he let us into the entrance that was right next to our booth. Nels, not far down from us, paid an extra fifteen bucks for a nearby parking spot that day so he could get out a half hour earlier.

We are looking forward to doing this show again and will bring more weights next time.
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  • Ann shared key lime pie with me. Thanks for asking.

    I have no idea how we did so much better than the last couple of years in the same spot. I didn't think I'd mentioned the award in the blog post, but thanks. Awards are strange things. Usually the judges are very good at picking stuff that doesn't sell so youll have to waste a day showing that kind of work if you take awards seriously. This time they were wrong. The piece that got the award sold for almost as much as the award check. Go figure.
    Hey, how are YOU doing?
  • Glad to hear you had a good show, Bill. Also congrats on the award! I hope you got some of that key lime pie before it was gone.
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