Coconut Grove Art Festival
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First time exhibiting at the Coconut Grove Art Festival. We camped in the harbor on Dinner Key next to the City Hall, with the flag flying in front of the art deco style building with red lights. The harbor was magical with the sounds of pelicans and seagulls and views of Miami. We saw another cute little Scamp a 16' in the RV parking lot. The artist was also wearing polka-dots and had a Boston Terrier that knew how to ride a skateboard, nothing cuter. We went to the fresh market and tried all the wine samples and the sangria samples and the margarita samples!!! It was a good night, Happy Valentine's day to us!
Miami is like another country! Most likely Cuba, although we haven't been there yet. We spoke Spanish to many of our customers but heard people speaking at least 15 other languages. Everyone was so well dressed and fit in this high fashion city. This is the first art show that we had the dogs and the camper, we haven't done a show with either added botheration. Now was as good of a time as any to do this. Mai was able to charge the solar panel and power the fan that rested on the cooler of ice to cool the camper for the pups. She checked on them frequently to make sure it didn't get too hot for them. We stayed with other artists who RVed at shows and I wanted to speak with them about their experiences, but the first two nights it rained and we stayed in the camper. Sarah, another artist had said that in past years there were campfires and songs and gatherings in the RV lot, but we didn't see any this year. It was very hot and humid, not meant to stand on asphalt for ten hours in a plastic tent, more for going to the beach or picnic in the shade. The second night I went in my bikini the few feet down to the pier and showered off with a hose, it was refreshing and the security guard just looked the other way and she seemed bored.
The art show was surprisingly slow for us, but we tried not to hold on to feeling disappointed. It was a new audience in a new state and sometimes it takes time to establish yourself in a new location. We did have fun though and ate well because of the market around the corner. The dogs were very good and did well in the camper. Staying in the camper was the new norm, so it wasn't an issue sleeping in it during the show, although it was very hot at night. This was the first show where we just took our time packing up, completely took our time instead of racing to get home, because we already were home. That felt really good, just taking our time and slowing getting it done. We stayed the night again in the RV lot on the harbor, almost all the other artists had left. We walked the dogs downtown around Coconut Grove, the European style cafes and restaurants, the balmy weather everyone was enjoying the outside seating, it was romantic. The Spanish style limestone homes, the steel and glass highrises, the gardens and parks, very opulent and very manicured.
