Well we did our third show after having a weekend free. It was also in Boca Raton, but different location. The location was great. The organizer, Hotworks, has arranged with the city and such to shut down a portion of US Federal Highway #1 right next to Sanborn Park. The Festival fills the street and a good portion of the park. Friday set up. If you are in the park, it’s anytime set up. If you are in the road it’s after 3 or whenever they get done marking booths. So I’d recommend you get there about 1 and watch carefully. There is a Burger King close by and some other restaurants that you can do lunch at while you are waiting.
Saturday’s weather was a little bit problematic with rain.. not really much, but I think the forecast was enough to discourage attendance. We did sell our one an only pelican. The customer had seen it at
the last Boca show, but since the weather was awful that show on Sunday, she did not make it back.
Sunday’s weather was beautiful. For us sales were slow, but traffic was steady through out the day. A lot of artists seemed to be making sales. Some of them were large.
Lots of bartering… if you do a show in the Boca area be aware of this.. people like to barter, plan accordingly.
Positive things about the show:
Great location – Easy for customers to see you and plenty of room in each space. Enough room behind the booth and room enough to mess with walls between the tents.
Crowds were decent and several people buying. Though I’m sure that is different year to year.
Amenities: Artist breakfast on Sunday morning.
Setup & Breakdown: Friday setup, easy in and out.
Organizer: Hotworks from our one experience was a good organization to do a show with, they answered questions, seemed to care how things were doing and didn’t bother you about little stuff.
They do have awards for this show. Not really sure how they work. They have one judge. Something that I don’t really agree with, since awards are really a matter of opinion. And with only one judge, you get one opinion. We don’t really pay attention to the whole thing. The judge does come by and talk with you for about two seconds. He is allowed maybe 2 minutes to look at your art. He asked us how we formed ours and what the primary medium was. If you do land an award, you can get cash if it’s one of two (I think) and ribbons if it’s not.
Overall, it was a positive experience and we would apply again if we are in the area during the show.
On a side note.. we delivered the pelican on Monday. The customer had wanted us to remove the patina from the copper and clear coat it. She knows she’ll have to do it again to keep it that way, but it’s what she wanted. She had also been interest in one of our spoonbills. Before we left her house she gave us a deposit on it. We’ll will do the same clear coat process on it and drop it back at her place when we go through there next week. Sweet!
It only takes one person to make a show great, but will you always have that person, who knows?
Artship 