I debated for two days whether to report on this show or not.
My New Year's resolution was to report on a show only if I could say good things about it, Cape Coral is kinda in a grey area. Hopefully, the good Rotarians down there will take this in a kind light in case I wish to apply again. I did get an award this year.
First off, this is 300-plus exhibitor show that is juried. Off course that means, the painted bottle art, the painted signs with sayings like "Drink now, barf later" and we will paint your name on it, the tepee people, the bottle stopper people, they were all juried in. It is a fund-raiser for the Rotary. Which brings one important thing to mind.
Holly, how the heck did you manage to get juried out of this show? Did you mistakenly submit your third grade fingerpainting slides instead of your current work. It takes a lot to get juried out of this show.
That said, a lot of people made money at this show, many with work priced well under $40, but about 10 per cent of the artists sold more expensive items in the $200-$500 range.
My neighbor Ron Lemoine fashions whimsical fish driving cars out of copper and metal. He sold numerous pieces in the $200 range all show. He even popped a few big ones. So there were buyers for higher end. For me, the show sucked, I couldn't even sell one $150 framed piece.
If you have work that sells under $40 you can probably do very well at this show. If you have creative art from the heart, you better pass on this one.
One note about the setup. Everybody queques up Friday nite in the parking lot and they let you in for setup around 8 pm. Me, I showed upand got my spot assignment, then I went home (To Lou and Terr's across the bridge) and showed up next morn at 6am. All the booths were set up around me. I parked right in front and set up in two hours, then went and had a leisurely breakfest at Perkins, walked the show and was ready by 10 am to do business. To me, this is a much more civilized way to do the show rather than scurrying about late on Friday nite. Try it out.
There, I said it all. Think the Rotarians will let me in again? Cheez Louse if I ever see Holly, she will probably bash me in the head with that new Witches Broom I sent her from LL Bean last year when she was ill. Oh well, the chances we take being artists on the street.
Comments
I attended this show as a customer the first 3 years I lived in FL and always had fun. I participated in this show my first 3 years in the biz, despite the pay-in-advance policy. I decided to skip it this year because although it's a community institution, that community has just been savaged by the downturn in the economy...it's had the second-highest decline in home prices in the USA, and there are some other economic pressures (not worth going into here) that have made things even worse. Plus, there's been a steady growth in the number of artists accepted each year (those $268 booth fees in the bank add up fast, especially--as Holly pointed out--when they're making interest on the deposits). It was always interesting to me that the show application never said by when those deposits would be returned if you weren't accepted.
But I would like to put in a vote for the volunteers who work the show. They genuinely have a good time, and in my experience the shows were always well-organized. I loved having my booth across the street from Perkins, too!
When I *did* do the show