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Well, I just brushed the dust from my teeth and can now write this review.  Unfortunately, getting the dust off my clothes, booth, pedestals, and, pots is another story.  It's time to buy a case of canned air.  Maybe my next show will be windy and it will blow it all into the next booth.  This show is divided into 4 sections, but really it breaks down into 2 sections.  The lucky ones get to display on the street and the rest of us poor slobs have to be in the park, where they put down some sort of chips that break down when stepped on, piled up, tripped over, and kicked on everything.  This puts a layer of dust on everything, which makes everyone cough, hack, and wheeze.  Not to worry though.  You don't really notice it until you break down your booth and notice the fine film of dust on everything.  Fortunately, if you are on the street you don't have this problem.  I'd like to say that they reserve the best artists for the street, but, I didn't find that to be the case.  The quality is evenly distributed throughout the show, with the usual number of excellent work, really bad work(How did they get in the show?) and some buy/sell. I can't really say that what I saw was actually b/s.  To me, if it looks like it was machine made or mass produced, what is the difference? What used to make our shows unique is that the work was hand-made and looked hand-made.

The Skinny: Load in and breakdown was a pleasant experience.  Exhibitors booths are broken down into 4 section and each section has a 3 hour arrival time.  You have to register at a booth in a huge field and then drive a designated path, a few blocks away, to your area.  Once you arrive, there are people to guide you in to a parking spot.  I found it to be very civilized.  There are plenty of people to help you unload, for a negotiated fee, and they will even help you set up your booth.  I paid $10.  Some paid more.  Some people didn't pay anything.  Once you unload your booth, you have to drive back to the parking area and take a shuttle to your booth to set it up.  They don't allow vans into the park to mess up the a fore mentioned mulch on the ground.  People on the street have the last setup time and they can drive right to their booths and unload and set up.  Some people find this annoying.  I kind of liked the way it's done.  In the morning of the show, everyone has to park in the field and shuttle in.  The shuttles run continuously and often.  I'll bet you are thinking that breakdown is a real problem with everyone trying to get in at once and get out of there as fast as possible.  After all it is Naples. Surprisingly, breakdown is also civilized.  You can only get a pass to drive in after you've broken down your booth. Since people take different times to breakdown,  I'm very slow, getting a parking space to load is no problem. Unlike other shows, where the help disappears at breakdown, there was plenty of help loading.  You could take your time while leaving. The shuttles run until 10PM on closing so, if you wanted to, you could go eat dinner and come back.

The show is 10-5 both Saturday and Sunday.  I would like to see the show go a little later on Saturday.  Hey, we are here already. The weather was great, again. 80 degrees and sunny. No wind. The crowds were good, not great.  Unfortunately, sales were not good for most people I talked to.  Some people said they had a good show.  A lot of people had one good day and it wasn't the same day for everyone.  My first day was pretty good and my second day was virtually none existent.  For others, Saturday was bad and Sunday was good.  One jeweler friend did $6000 and was very happy. She was on the street.  Another potter friend had a zero show until the last 5 minutes and then sold a nice piece.  The people around me weren't selling.  I'm sure there were exhibitors that goose egged.  A glass blower friend, again on the street, did $6000.  I only talked to a few people and we need to hear from others as to how they did.  I was down about 30% from last year, which was my first year doing the show.  Would I come back next year? Probably, but I look at it from an economic perspective. Since I am already here, my initial costs have been spent. So, as long as I take in more money than what I am spending at the show, I would do it.  For the economically inclined, marginal revenue has to either equal or be greater than marginal costs. 

Btw, you may get the idea that being on the street is better than being in the park.  I'm not sure that is true.  Most people get around to whole show.  You can ask for a space on the street, but, getting one is a random act, unless you've supported this show with your presence and have an established space on the street, like some of my friends.  Once you get your space assignment, you can just about forget moving.  The people that run the show, do not like to inundated with space change requests.  That's just may be my opinion and I may be wrong about that. If someone asked for and got a space change, I'd like to know about it.

There are two things I would like to see different at the Naples National.  The first one is I would like to see the booth sitters offer the option to go for food and drink instead of baby sitting my booth.  In today's climate it is really important to be at your booth as much as possible. You don't know when someone is going to be the customer that makes your show.  I talked the booth sitter into going to the deli across the street to get me a sandwich.  While she was gone a customer came back and purchased a piece. I would not have had that sale if I had gone for the food.  The second thing I would like to see changed is the "entertainment."  During the prime selling time, from 12-3PM there was a 12 year old American Idol reject, with a somewhat screechy voice singing show tunes and (gag me) Justin Bieber tunes.  Now, I'm sure her parents and grandparents, and a lot of older folks that make up the Naples demographic, really though she was fantastic.  But I, and a lot of artists close to the stage, found her distracting, at best.  It is my belief that, at an art fair, the music should be complimentary to the art and not another one of the myriad of distractions that these events are adding to the shows.  At a national event where exhibitors are coming from long distances and spending an increasingly greater amount of money, the artwork should be the main focus of the event and every effort should be made to create a favorable selling/buying atmosphere.  Keep the distractions to a minimum.  That would be most respectful and greatly appreciated, by us.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  If I've forgotten something please feel free to ask or add to this post.