Blog

Las Olas (Ft. Lauderdale) is coming up this weekend and those of you who’ve been there have an idea what to expect.  For those of you who doing it for the first time, this report is to give you a preview based on my experience from last year.

     I was fortunate enough to split a room with Steve Vaughn, a pretty good photographer.     He’s a Las Olas veteran of many years.  We stayed in the Riverside Hotel which is right next to the show.  Had I fallen down the stairs I would have rolled out the front door and right into my tent.  It rarely gets that good.  The only downside was the noise.  There were slamming doors, drunks whooping in the hallway, and shrieking bacchanates (It’s OK, I barely know what that word means myself).  I called the desk to complain and the young man at the desk said “Sir, it IS New Year’s Eve”.

     Oh. 

We showed up at three in the morning to set up, well ahead of the traffic jam of artists sure to show up later.    You can park your car on the side of the street right across your spot and then unload on the grassy median until setup time.  Three in the morning, however, turned out to be when the bars closed, turning  well lubricated customers onto the sidewalks.  Much to their credit, they seemed to all have called cabs.  There were at least a dozen taxis at any one time parked and picking up customers or driving by my booth.  It took quite a bit of dodging between parked and slowly moving cabs trying to get my loads to the median next to my booth.  You have to drop off your stuff and get out of there.  

     Parking wasn’t that bad if you knew what to do.  I left my van in the parking area with my cell phone number stuck under the windshield promising I’d be back at opening time to pay up.  It worked out well.  

     After that the rest of the setup was a piece of cake and I didn’t have to rush.  

Since I was by myself (Ann was recovering from knee surgery and it went very well, thanks) I didn’t get too far away from my booth, but many artists dropped by to visit.  Most of them weren’t exactly ecstatic over sales.  My own sales were pretty slow compared with my expectations.  

     As with many other shows these days, the crowds were there and if you had what they wanted, they had the money for it.  Some folks did quite well.  

     For me the worst part was an earache that started up on Saturday and was working its way toward a peak by teardown.  It was the longest teardown I’d had in a long time, then there was the four hour trip home.  Fortunately I was able to reach my daughter (professional RN) who recommended a med.  It took about three hours before I drove by a drug store that was open that late and had a living pharmacist on duty.  This was required because the stuff I needed was an important ingredient for meth cooks and it’s kept behind the counter.  It did the trick.  

    We decided to skip the show this year and stock up for a busy February schedule.  We hope it won’t be in vain.  

     For all of you who are going to be in the show this year, best of luck and it will be interesting to hear from you, even a year from now.  

        The cabs at three in the morning were busy picking up the more responsible drunks and crossing the street with loads of stuff was a bit tricky.  

   This cheeseburger (Riverside Hotel, ground floor bar) was the best I have ever had.  Half of it would have been plenty, but I couldn't stop.