Las Olas Blvd. is a very upscale street in Ft. Lauderdale lined with trendy shops and restaurants, a go to destination for locals and tourists alike. Howard Alan events has three shows at this venue every year, Jan, March and Oct. This show is turning out to be a very profitable show for me. I've exhibitated at this venue four times and each time the sales get appreciably better and I'm developing a very strong following in the south Florida market. I was not alone, many of the artists I talked to were having the best show they had had in years and when I could see over the people in my packed booth I saw lots of art in the hands of happy shoppers.
Bill covered the logistics of the setup in his post, it can be as hard or easy as you choose to make it. This year the show was the weekend after the New Year so we didn't have the well lubricated celebrants to deal with. There was also a jazz festival within walking distance of our show which served to increase attendance, which was massive. Saturday was busy, but Sunday was absolutely packed. All economic demographics are represented at this show so there are buyers for all price points. That being said you do have to work for your sales. I had painters on both sides of me, one was very aloof, sat on the sidewalk across from his booth and had no interaction with his customers, the other painter was in his booth talking to his customers, guess which one did better. It's a new world in the art show business and if you don't adapt you're going to die on the vine.
I apologize for the brevity of this review but I have a lot of jewelry to make to get ready for this weeks show, perhaps some of our other reviewers can chime in.
Comments
Deana, It is a Howard Alan show. When he holds a show on a main street in a town, you have to suffer with the 5am set up because they can't get the street shut down sooner. All the Las Olas shows have set up at that ridiculously early hour.
I get to show site by 3:30, you can't set up then but you can unload your stuff and put it on the curb and get your car out of the show site. Or there are plenty of side streets and parking lots to dolly in from if you don't want to get up that early. Las Olas Blvd is a two lane street so with tents set up there is no room to pass a car in front of you so if you wait until official setup time (5:00) you either can't get to your space or if you are on the street you'll get trapped until traffic moves.
One thing I forgot to mention in my review is that Howard is now providing breakfast at a lot of his shows, bagels, muffins, fruit, juices & water. Very much appreciated
Thanks, for the feedback, Geri. Is the very early set up advisable for the march show, too? who runs the shows?
I thought the show was a wonderful way to kick off 2012. The weather was perfect, there are great restaurants all around and the art was great. It was a consistently high quality show. There were quite a few familiar faces and they were all smiling. The glass artist staying with me had a killer show and was very happy. Several artists mentioned customers straight off the cruise ships at Port Everglades. Apparently they still had money left and saw no reason to bring it home so they were buying art.
To answer Deana, yes the crowds show up for the March show like they do for the January show.
As my husband said as we were leaving--There was a lot more to see here than any show in a while.
I too was at the show. My booth had the good fortune to be placed almost opposite a Kilwins so I was tortured by the delicious smells all weekend. No, I did not give in to temptation!. Any I agree the crowds were massive and the weather was as perfect as you could hope for at a show. I do this event in Oct and Jan each year. For some reason I have yet to figure out my Oct show was almost double the Jan show in total sales. It was not one big customer in Oct or anything like that. While the Jan show was pretty good for me, I would have liked that Oct total much more. I do have some after show possibilities so we shall see. In spite of some of the logistics of setup and teardown, I will continue doing this show as it is a winner! Like most all shows I know some fellow artists who did not do well, even a zero from a painter who had nice work. You never know these days.
Congrats on the good sales to all!!! Sounds great and makes me happy to hear about.
Is the show in March similar in crowds and sales?
Sorry I got cut off.
Those that dollied out and had a helper were out in less then an hour. Just be patient. What is another hour or two anyway ;)
All around I think this was a successful show for most. I am looking forward to Part II.
I was at Las Olas too and everyone was happy around me as well. Sales started well before the official opening time on both days, but generally ended around closing for most.
There are some tricks to set up. I knew this before hand and it was stressing me out. I had some accommodation issues so I missed Bill's post. I just saw it last night. Thanks Bill for adding that. Luckily other AFIers helped ease my worries and gave me some great advice. I usually go into more detail on set up, but it has been discussed already on this forum. It is just a really early morning and every man for himself type set up. If you can dolly in do it, if not you will need a little luck. I decided last minute on Friday night that the Universe really wanted me to stay at The Riverside Hotel. I didn't get a booth very close to the hotel since I made the decision last minute, but I was only a few blocks away. For this show, if you can stay at this hotel or camp at the show do it. I did get lucky on set up and was the last van able to drive up to their spot and that was at 4:20 am.
Layout had been covered many times so I will try to not repeat. My booth was on the south side of the street and I had a grass median behind my booth. Most of us had a decent amount of space behind our booths that we shared with our artist neighbor behind us. All the artists around me were excellent booth mates which helps so much when you are in tight quarters.
Crowds were huge. I did take a few pics, but they don't show much besides crowds of packed people. Most of the artists on my side sat across from their booths. It was very difficult most of the day to actually get back to your booth when you could tell you had a qualified buyer. There were some very nice shoes and purses but that was a small percent. There were definite buyers who came to this show on a mission for art. Since the crowds were so large, most of the people couldn't make it into the booths, but the serious buyers made sure they were on the right side of the crowd to get in and out. Most of the people just walked on by without even looking at the booths, but they weren't the people there to buy anyway. There is so much to look at between the booths and stores along the street you really need to have a booth that catches the eye through the masses if you want to draw them in.
Tear down was just a waiting game. Since I had seasoned artists around me we all broke down and placed our things off the side of the road. I had a restaurant across from me so I couldn't place anything along the side walk. I had to get creative to get all my stuff off the street. About 1/2 of the artists around me dollied out and our area was clear about 1 hour after closing. The police told the rest of us we were cleared to get our vans. Unfortunately the rest of the artists were not as considerate so I sat in my van waiting to get in for a LONG time. I didn't get out until 8pm and breakdown started at 5pm. At least I was able to relax in my van while I waited. Those that dollied out and had a helper were o
Thanks for taking the time to tell the story, Lori. 'Tis the season for all artists in Florida, a show around every corner so I know it is a busy time. Best wishes on next week's show.
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