Barry Witt's 3rd Bonita Springs art fair of the season took place in Riverside Park on March 14 & 15. This show is on the same weekend as the popular Vero Beach show. I applied to both but was not invited to Vero Beach. I'm a digital artist and I sell limited edition prints on both paper and canvas.
I did Bonita Springs a few years ago when it was at the mall. I didn't do very well that year and I was skeptical about this new location, especially since Barry now has three art fairs at the same location (January, February and March). I was pleasantly surprised by the pleasant location, and by the ease of getting into the park and setting up. I was in a booth in a parking lot area on asphalt near the railroad tracks, one of three sections of the show. The main section is on old 41 with booths facing each other on both sides of the road. The third section is north of where I was in a grassy area with booths, again, facing each other. Artists are not assigned booths until the day of the show, so I didn't know in advance where my booth would be until I got there. I was happy with my location, being a corner space near one of the entry gates to the show.
Friday was a setup day, starting at 12:30. We got there at about 1:30 and Marcia and I took our time setting up. It was hot so much water was consumed. We backed the van up right next to our booth and was able to leave it there for the duration (a much preferred option rather than having to unload everything, park the van, then set up). We had lots of room with spaces at least 12 feet wide and as deep as necessary. We took advantage of the space and extended our booth back about four feet giving us a covered booth 14 feet deep.
Walking the show on Saturday morning I saw some pretty good quality art, but I also saw a lot of unused spaces. I'm not sure why, but I later learned from another artist that there were 19 no-shows. That number may be hearsay, but there were lots of empty spaces. Later in the day a somewhat disappointed customer told me that the show advertised 200 artists, but she only counted 140. Since there is an entry fee of $5, she felt a little bit gypped. Not sure why there was such a light turnout of artists at this show, but it may be that the 3rd and final edition of this show was just one too many.
Anyway, besides those few negatives, the patrons seemed to enjoy the show and seemed to be very engaged with the artists... at least at my booth. I didn't experience the "zombie walk" of patrons shuffling by without looking. People came into my booth and looked at my work, including the two jurors, who took the time to introduce themselves. I did not win an award. The turnout for the show was pretty light. It was never crowded, and, in fact, it got downright empty in the late afternoon as the temperatures continued to rise. I have a marine battery which I used to power a large fan. It kept Marcia and I a little cooler, and the customers liked it.
My sales were brisk in the morning topped by a past customer who ordered a $950 canvas print to be delivered to Little Rock Arkansas in April. That sale made my day and I wound up with just over $2000 in sales Saturday. I was delighted and relieved by the response to my work, especially after such light sales in South Miami and Lake Wales, my two previous outings. We closed down at 5pm in a park populated only by us artists. Customers were gone by then.
Hoping for a continuation of good sales on Sunday, I was initially disappointed. I didn't make my first sale until about 1:30. But then, one of those sales spurts happened that is really hard to understand. I had two hours of brisk sales until the afternoon sun drove the customers away. I topped off the day with just under $2000, bringing my take for the show at just over $4K.
As in most shows, some artists did OK, and other artists were disappointed. I was happy with my sales, especially with such a light turnout of customers. More worrisome about this show is all the empty booth spaces. It makes me think that artists are giving up on this show. Maybe three shows in the same location is too many. Or, maybe it will just take some time to bring customers and artists to this new location. And, maybe Barry should consider scheduling the show on a different date so it doesn't conflict with the more popular Vero Beach show.
As I get older, I appreciate shows that make it easy for the artists. Setup and tear down were a breeze. Artist parking was a short block away in a nice grassy field. Booth size was generous. And, I made a nice paycheck for this show. I'll do it again next year. Next weekend I'm scheduled to do the downtown Naples art fair on 5th Avenue. I'm also on the wait list for Winter Park on the same weekend so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm not looking forward to that dreaded Saturday morning setup in Naples.
