The third and final installment of Barry Witt's Bonita Springs National wrapped up yesterday. A beautiful, cloud-free weekend with a fine stable of artists at a show where (in delightful contrast to what we find so many other places) A-R-T is the focus, not the music, the munchies, or the dog-walkers.
And yet...attendance was moderate on Saturday and--perhaps due to the aftereffects of the Insidious Daylight Time Change--lighter still on Sunday, with a two-hour mid-afternoon burst of energy salvaging the show for me and for many of my neighbors. I wound up with about $500 more in the till than I did at the so-disappointing Naples National two weeks earlier: Another paycheck show, at a venue where, based on past experience, I expected much better.
There was some grumbling in the ranks about how great this show had been when it was held at the Promenade, an upscale venue just off heavily-trafficked US 41 that, like much of the art show business, fell on hard times when the recession hit in 2009. The former crown jewel of high-end Bonita shopping fell victim to poor management, which raised its rents to loyal small-business tenants as anchor stores abandoned it for the trendy Coconut Point mall not far away. In the end, it was home to the Bonita Springs Art League and little else, and was sold at a bargain-basement price to a new management group, which promises to revitalize it (about which, more later).
This year, Witt moved the Bonita Springs National to Riverside Park, a city-managed facility that is only a few miles away by automobile but light-years away in perceived swank and reputation. The park--and the show-- lies along Old 41 Road and the "downtown historic area" of Bonita Springs, home to mom-and-pop businesses, ethnic restaurants, and the Everglades Wonder Gardens, an aging tourist attraction of bygone days that recently shuttered its doors and was purchased by a Florida photographer who--stop me if you've heard this before--promises to revitalize it.
For those of you who don't frequent shows in SW Florida, Barry holds three Nationals each year, second week of each month, January through March. I did not apply to the January show, figuring that a new venue would have some kinks to work out. That turned out to be the case, but give Barry credit for listening to artists and making quick adjustments--some that very weekend, others by the time the February show rolled around.
The February installment is a relatively new addition, and although it had a superb art roster it butts heads directly with Howard Alan's Coconut Point show. Attendance, accordingly, was quite a bit lighter than I'd expected it to be, as were sales. Although some artists I spoke with did well, overall, show veterans definitely noticed a downturn. Nonetheless, the show garnered high marks for a smooth check-in procedure, lots of friendly, knowledgeable volunteers/boothsitters, an easy Friday load-in (drive-to-your-booth convenience, at least if you were located on the street and not in the park. I am not sure if park artists could drive in or not), and ample parking.
I didn't notice any tweaks to layout or procedures at the March show, so I assume the kinks had been worked out. I had exactly the same booth location as in the February show--helpful, since at the National you don't get booth assignments until you check in, so any notification you do to past customers is necessarily last-minute. (The show does provide a detailed, relatively easy to read map and artist roster, however. But more than one patron and artist commented that some directional signs--"booths 145-193 thisaway"--would be appreciated.)
Crowds were moderate on Saturday, but--after 90 minutes or so of the "browse mode" I've come to expect as early arrivals stroll the show to see what's available, I began noticing quite a few packages being carried about, including some pretty large 2-D work. We were optimistic if a bit drowsy from the switch to Daylight Time as we opened up on Day Two. But the crowds were thin indeed--late in arriving and definitely not in a buying mood once they came. In my area of Old 41, there was a welcome burst of buying energy between about 1 and 3 PM, which saved the show for many of us. I was reasonably satisfied with both shows I did; they were certainly profitable enough to warrant a return in 2015. Yet, the consensus among those artists with a much longer track record at this show than I have seemed to be: "Not quite what it was."
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So what's the verdict on the change of venue? It would be easy to draw a conclusion, as many artists feared, that the move from The Promenade to the park would be the beginning of the end for this show. But that would be short-sighted, in my view, and flat-out wrong. Let's take a look at a few of the concerns that were expressed when the move was announced:
* "The park is in a bad part of town." Truth is, it's a lovely park, well-used, well-maintained, with lots of restrooms, a refurbished amphitheatre, and even its own wi-fi. It hosts a regular run of community events; there's fine security at the show, and even a Sheriff's Office substation right on the grounds. There was a lot of (well-marked) patron parking on site and along nearby residential streets. (A few patrons--just a few--complained that there should be even more.)
Does it bother the golf-course and yacht club set that this area of Bonita is a working class, ethnically diverse community? That's a question I can't answer. One of my show neighbors, an artist from multi-cultural Miami, shook her head in bewilderment as she considered the issue. "Those folks should just get over it," she said.
At any rate, it might be too early to make a call on this one. There was certainly money around--my average sale was, in fact, up considerably from the last time I did the show. I did not consistently ask my customers if they had come to the show before, and that's my fault. (I did, however, mail my mailing list, and I saw about the usual number of repeat customers: so either my past customers aren't 'good-shoes people' or the venue wasn't a deterrent.) Perhaps some of you who did the show, and DID ask, could weigh in below.
* There's a bigger reason, though, why I think this show will not only survive the change in venue, but emerge bigger than ever. And that's because there are changes--big changes--comin' to River City Bonita.
Bonita Springs and its neighbor to the north, Estero are on the verge of a boomlet the likes of which Southwest Florida hasn't seen since the late '90s. Last year Hertz Corporation--yes, the rental-car folks--stunned the business world by announcing that by mid-2015, they will locate their corporate headquarters in Estero, bringing about 700 jobs to the area at an average salary, it is said, of close to $100K. (And it isn't a pipe dream: groundbreaking has already happened near Coconut Point Mall, and key corporate personnel are already relocating to a temporary building in North Naples.) That's some serious moolah. And its impact won't be just those 700 salaries, but also, in many cases, jobs for their spouses, and--here's where we artists come in--new homes that have to be furnished and decorated.
Beyond that, you can bet that a whole host of service businesses will spring up in its wake. There are other changes afoot, too--things having to do with tax codes and annexations and zoning--that I only partially understand. But I've lived in expansionary times in big cities several times in my life, and I've seen this play out before.
Taking an even WIDER view of our industry as it pertains to SW Florida: What might this mean, not just for Bonita Springs National, but for the glut of shows in the area? The oft-expressed downside of "too many shows" doesn't quite tell the whole story. It's also been a problem of not enough money to spread around. To the extent that economic expansion solves that problem, that could be good news.
Surely, show promoters are taking notice. It's too early to tell, and I don't want to speculate in print (or whatever the heck the cyberspace equivalent of "print" is), but I suspect there will be a few adjustments in the market before next year's Florida show season rolls around.
