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AS YOU MAY KNOW, I DO 36 SHOWS A YEAR FOR 37 YEARS.  I AM A PHOTOGRAPHER.  I LIVE IN YBOR CITY, TAMPA, ACROSS THE BAY FROM THE SHOW.

MY WIFE  AND I ATTENDED THE SHOW AND FARMERS MARKET THERE LAST SATURDAY.

HERE ARE MY OBSERVATIONS, FIRST ABOUT THE COLOR RUN AND ITS EFFECT ON BOTH EVENTS.  (OK, I will use lowercase now.)

First, about the color run.  It was advertised weeks ahead of the show, if you lived locally, like the director of the art show, you would have to have heard of it, let alone know it would collide with your event.

Yes, these cornstarch color runs have become the recent hot trends in running.  Anything to get runners fork out $45 for a single event.

On Saturday, Ellen and I first visited my sister who sells plants at the farmers market which was located about four blocks south of the art show.

When we approached her area we noticed everything was covered in this pukey orange hue.  Canopies.  Trucks.  Food.  Plants.  It was everywhere. They would end up hosing everything down that night because they had a plant show to do in Tampa on Sunday.  Then they came over to Ybor to have dinner with us.  Mitch, my sis's partner, told me how difficult it was to get rid of the color.  When you hosed it off, a certain amount flew into the air as a cloud, only to resettle again on different adjacent surfaces.  It took many hosings to rid the color.

Nobody gave the farmers market a prior warning about this and its proximity to the market.  Everything was this rustic orange.  I did not buy any food at the market.

Now, we went on to the art show.  

I will describe the impact of the color run there.  Then I will get into a report of the show.

Where the show was held, on grounds north of the museum on Bayside Drive, the runners got sprayed in pukey PINK!  Yipee, I yeah!

It too, was everywhere.  Even the port-potties, inside, were totally infiltrated by the stuff.  I have never seen such gross port-potties before.  I looked for a friendly tree.

Canopies were sprayed in pink, art and craft was covered too.  It was nasty.

I just cant imagine running and breathing this stuff, it can't be all that healthful.

So yeah, the organizers of the run hd to be a little oblivious to effects of their colors going into the air and then eventually settling hither and yon.  Thankfully, not my yon.

Now about the show.

I stayed away.  Could have slept in my own bed and had minimum expenses.

I felt the $350 booth fee was way to high for a first time show, especially   ten days before Christmas.

I did the promoters show last year that was on Central Avenue in November.  It had nice awards, shitty sales, and minimal advertising.

Before this year's show, I had several email conversations with the director about this particular show.  Also about how he had tried to do the same November show and had no luck.  I gave him insights about that.  He asked my opinion bout a well-known promoters show in Florida.  I gave him some helpful insights.

Back in July I asked him if he would give me a lower rate for the booth fee because, after all, I had given him some helpful consult info.  He said, "No way, Jose."  I told him $350 was too high of a fee.  I told him most people were going to die at that show.  The timing was not right.  Luckily for me, he didn't relent and give me a hundred dollars off, because I would have been $250 out of pocket with very little. return.

So there.  Total transparency.  I asked for a lower booth fee, because of consult advice and was turned down.  Amen!

So, Ellen and I attended, Saturday, sometime after noon.

The show is in lovely location, under shaded trees, by the museum, next to the water.  All it needs is happy buyers.  Were not many of them.

I saw at least a dozen seasoned pros that I know on the circuit who were there.  The promoter got about 90 artists to do it.  Among the dozen I talked to, there was not one success story.  BTW, the show started Friday afternoon. So you had to be there two-and-a-half days which was two-and-a-half days too long.

Easy parking for customers is an issue.  Buying art for Christmas presents is an issue.  The real wealthy do not usually attend these events.  He sent out missives to supposedly every person in Pinellas County who had  house valued at $800K or higher.

It was a nice layout, good art but not many buyers.

Personally, St. Petersburg is a tough art sell any time of the year and especially before Christmas.

Personally, I was cheering for this event to be a success. I desperately need a show on the third weekend in December.  This is not it.

I told Ellen in advance that the fee was too high and most people would die.

Unfortunately, I was right.

So, there is my report.  I went there as a local, with no bias, and that was what I observed.  With 35 years of experience in the biz, I trust my instincts, they very rarely ever let me down.