Happy New Year. Just finished my first show of the New Year. Bring it 2014!
Lots of reviews have been written on Las Olas shows so set up, booth, load out details all the same. If you haven't done the show and aren't familiar with it and want to know more just search Las Olas and find past reviews.
I arrived around 2pm on Friday to The Riverside Hotel with about 5 other artists checking in at the same time. One of the wonderful things about doing this show is that I am spoiled and get to stay in a wonderful full service hotel that is practically on top of my booth. All I have to do is look out my hotel window and I can see my booth. Next year I am going to set up a zip line from my hotel room to my booth and just zipline to the booth;). I also choose to valet my vehicle in their out door lot which is actually a pretty cheap option for the area, so parking is cake. Friday afternoon was able to enjoy the day along the river, pool and of course Las Olas.
Saturday bright and early, 4am, I got up walked to the car and easily drove up to my spot and dropped off my stuff on the side walk. I love my block, we all seem pretty together. Third year on this block for me. Some blocks are not as organized, it just takes one artist to mess it all up but my area are all pros. By 4:20 I was back in my hotel room taking a quick nap because you can't start setting up until 5am. Back down at 5am and by 6am was all done and back in the hotel room with room service.
The weather for Saturday was suppose to be sunny and mid 70s. Perfect, but no it just drizzled most of the day. Crowds weren't the normal HUGE crowds for this show BUT by 11am large pieces were walking out of the show. The serious shoppers didnt let the drizzle deter them. I saw a steady stream of large work leave all day.
Sunday the forecast was for lots of rain, nope. Sunny with some clouds. And the people came. Big crowds. The jewler next to me had people waiting in line to get into her booth. Weather was great all day and the crowd was big all day.
Everyone I talked to was happy and reported better sales this year than last. Woo Hoo!
Breakdown easy peasy. Was broken to the side walk by 5:20 and then went to happy hour and had some dinner. At 7:45pm I went back to pick up my stuff and there was only two artists left so I was all packed up in 15 and back in the hotel room to watch the premier of Downton Abbey;).
Great way to kick off the new year.
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Comments
Great critique and accompanying comments...I'm afraid I didn't know where Las Olas was though until others chimed in...I guess most of you who do the Florida shows would know that but not necessarily we newbies...thanks for the information and best of luck in the new year.
Candyce, the March show is a good one. Height of the tourist season and if we ever get to the dry season (it is a month late so far) the weather for this show is usually wonderful, with even bigger crowds.
The October show isn't on the radar of the public like the other two shows.
Fantastic to hear of a successful in sales show for so many! THanks for the review Melanie - and the photo, I love to 'see' :D
I have the impression Las Olas I is the best of the three. What can I expect in March?
I thought this was a wonderful show. Except for a few of the usual suspects, I saw no b/s or production work. The 2D was exceptional. I collect glass, ceramics and jewelry, I usually don't notice 2D but at this show, it was practically all I bought.
Contrary to what everyone says, there are not a lot of quality shows in Southeast Florida. This is definitely one of them. For those that want to check it out, go to Howard Alan's facebook page. He has pics of every booth in the show.
While all the photographers are discussing canvas vs metal, it seems that acrylic coating is the thing for painters. I saw more at this show than I have ever seen. I like it, it has a nice clean, slick look about it but I miss texture. Also, a lot of what I saw was abstract and I would like to see how it looks with other subjects. If this is the "latest" thing, framers should start worrying.
Past, Present and probably Future AFI'ers were there in large numbers. Since I missed Melanie, I am going to back to making out a list of AFI artists that will be at shows I go to. I really enjoy meeting the people who I have been reading all these years.
My only problem with this show was a lack of names in the booths. They were very late in handing out the signs to the artists and those that didn't have their own were anonymous as I walked by. Since HA shows don't have programs, this made it difficult if you were looking for a particular artist. (and if you have to set up at the ridiculous hour of 5am, it seems the least they could do is be timely :-) )
Well my Florida art season is off to wonderful start. I wish the same for all of you.
I did very well on Saturday but my Sunday sales were more than triple my Saturday sales. Possibly because everyone who said they would "be back" on Saturday, actually came back on Sunday and bought...BIG. I broke every single sales record I had at this show and ended up having my best show ever. I'm sure being mentioned in the article that Connie posted didn't hurt either. I did miss out on an $1,100 sale because my card reader didn't work for a few mins, and I totally forgot that I got a backup reader for that exact situation...I'll never make that mistake again! The couple said they would come back or call me to mail a check...hopefully that comes through.
This was my second show in Florida, I usually travel to shoot new work during this time of year but decided to try 2 FL shows this year first...looks like i will have to come back next year now. It beats being in the cold New York weather for sure!
I also got to meet Geri!
Looks active! And...no one seems to peering at their cellphones!! ;]
Thanks for the review Melanie. We also stayed at the Riverside but our booth was up the street between 9th and 10th facing south.
Our block was one of the ones where a couple of non-pros jammed the street for way longer than they should have. We ended up carrying most of our bins about have a block because you couldn't even dolly through. When we politely asked one artist if she could move her van, she used some rather colorful language to tell us that wasn't happening. (She did apologize the next day but I would have preferred to see the van move.)
Saturday was better for us than Sunday. The patrons seemed more serious. Sunday was a huge crowd but a lot of dog strollers and families with kids. One of the highlights of Saturday way having Geri Wegner, AFI Patron Extraordinaire, visit our booth.
Load out was very easy as we secured a spot for the van in the lot behind Tommy Bahama - a very short, flat dolly from our space.
Overall it was a good show for us. It will turn into a great one if a custom order comes through. This was a much better start for our Florida season than last year and hope it bodes well for the next few months. We're off to Boca as well.
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