I decided to go bold again, like the old days. (Talking type style)
This show was last weekend, it is held at a county park about 10 miles north of downtown Melbourne.
It used to be right downtown until they moved to this park.
Frankly the old location was far better, it brought a better class of patrons, a lot of them from the beach.
But it is now going to be here at the park. They squeezed 200 plus booths around a lake. It is a pretty setting with nice grass and trees. It is a long walk for patrons plus they have to park a ways from the show.
In spite of that, they came in copious numbers and bought, and bought all day long on Saturday.
Sunday, a heavy storm dumped tons of water on our canopy’s around 1pm.
It lasted almost an hour, and drove the crowd away, many did not return after the storm ended around 2pm.
The storm also created streams and lakes that flooded many booths.
Still, most artists had killer sales at the show. I was not one of them.
Let me tell you about demographics of theMelbourne show.
This show is held northwest of downtown. It attracts a lot of retirees who do not buy much and when they do, it is mostly Lowend.
It attracts a younger crowd and they buy, mostly conservatively and mostly beach stuff.
If you are doing seascapes, palm trees, birds, fish, mermaids, etc. you can kill here, especially if you are priced low.
My neighbor did mixed media collages, all like the above mentioned. She sold nonstop all two days long.
Along the Atlantic coast from Daytona to Melbourne they love beach stuff. It rules the day.
Sadly, fine original art goes unnoticed. Very few buyers.
When it was downtown I always did good, it was a steady $3-5K show.
Now, I cannot even break $1500.
I have done this show over 20 times, but it is time to give it up.
Luckily, I have the Winter Park show coming in three more weekends.
Hopefully it will be a winner.
Later Gators.
