Arts Festival is coming
The Coconut Grove Arts Festival will be here next month -- what are your feelings about the festival? My only gripe is that they charge now, I feel it is unfair to large families and I feel that as a tax payer, I should not have to pay for the right to attend the show on the very streets that my taxes support.I do enjoy the whole thing though, don't get me wrong. I attend all three days and enjoy the people watching, the art and especially the food.
I did complain once, via email, to the show head and her response to me was, "Good, our plan is working, we are keeping out the riff raff." I wish I had saved that email. I would post it here.
posted by Tom Falco at 5:52 PM
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12 Comments:
You must be a masochist, Grapevine. The Arts Festival is one of those things that may well drive me out of the Grove, and the City of Miami.
First, there's the traffic. Once Bayshore has been blocked for set-up, the spillover traffic flows onto Tigertail. And once Tigertail is nicely gridlocked, it spills over onto our little street, where people tear up and down the street, oblivious to pedestrians and the fact that the connection to Aviation is blocked, looking for a way out. The MPD only provided a single cop to watch the street one year when I begged the NET station to send somebody over.
Then there is the weekend-long annoyance of being unable to traverse the public streets without paying an entrance fee. The festival comes during some of the best sailing weather but I am completely unable to reach the Sailing Club to get to my boat, unless of course I pay an entrance fee just to cross McFarland. The people who monitor the admission gates are some of the biggest morons on the planet.
All of this annoyance just so that purveyors of the most pedestrian art can have the use of our streets to sell their wares? Absolutely ridiculous.
But of course, your description of the email illustrates precisely what the festival organizers think of us locals. To them, we're just a bunch of doormats, and we certainly act the part by taking all of this crap lying down.
We live in one of the high rises in the Grove. We HAVE to leave town during the arts fair because of the traffic mess. I am glad they charge a fee, however, because it keeps the freeloaders away.
As a long time grove-ite, I liked it much better at the beginning, when it was sprawled all over the grove and the art was "craftier" if I can make up that word. I don't like the chain fence. There is something "east-berliny" about it. I also don't like the compression of a few hundred thousand people into space that will take, at best 50,000.
I spoke to Katherine Phillips, the COO of the Art Festival (katherine@coconutgroveartsfest.com) and naturally: www.coconutgroveartsfest.com, and her point is that the city of Miami charges about $200,000 or so for the three days so they need to charge.
So: (1) at least it isn't our tax bucks kicking us out, (2) I would gladly pay $5 or $10 to get in (movies are now $7.50 to $9.50, so what the hell) if they closed off the entire grove and made it like a giant park or something. The Goombay, which tried the fence only one year, nearly bombed. It was so much better last year when it sprawled all over.
Maybe if everyone emails the Arts Fest with their opinions, they'll be willing to listen.
I tried complaining. She called me riff raff.
I'm afraid that if I wrote her I would have a hard time constraining myself to polite language.
Guys, its a few days out of a year that we need to suck it up and deal with it. In the process, we get to gain knowledge, make new friends, and discuss things that we probably wouldnt on a normal day. It kinda stinks that you have to pay to access your boat at CGSC, but I believe a 3-day pass is $5 or $10 for a Grove member, so why not just pay it and go check out the show as well? I love the art festival. Its a great excuse to get outside and have a good time. I do agree that the art itself has become somewhat boring though. Last year there were very few artists that didnt bring the same stuff as the year before. Some of that stuff are things that I could never imagine anyone purchasing anyways, but to each his/her own I guess. Hopefully there is a little more diversity.
Oh, and Im surprised you mentioned this before mentioning Taste of the Grove which is also a great time. Jan/Feb are the best months in Miami I think. Lots of good activities outside and the weather is normally perfect.
dunning people to shop is one of the ways in which the quality of life in s florida is diminishing by the hour.
these glorified crafts festivals are a dime a dozen all over florida, featuring many of the same roving craftspeople. if the fest cant be staged w/o admission revenues, then i say cancel it or charge the artists more money to cover the expenses since they have the most to gain from these things which are always free wherever i go.
I've been attending this event for years and I love it. The Coconut Grove Arts Festival is something I look forward to every year and I know of people who actually have scheduled vacations so that they can be here for it. I do find it really annoying that they started charging. The first year I boycotted the Festival in protest but caved the next year. To me there is something very unGROVE like about fencing off the festival and making people pay for something that was traditionally always free for many years.
Regarding the art it is less craft and has gotten really pricey. I actually prefer the show at St. Stephens held at the same time because it tends to be more crafty and affordable, they get pretty decent food vendors, and it's free.
I will continue to pay to go the CGAF, but I don't like it. Even with the charge it gets so freakin crowded you can't even get in to see the art at a certain point.
I like the art festival, but feel the same way about paying to attend. People always complain about the traffic, but I ususally go a little early to beat the crowd.
just take a ride up to tampa a couple of weeks later for the gasparilla art fest in downtown tampa. its all the same artists, free admission, easy free parking and no hassles whatsoever. its what life in florida is supposed to be like. if i want to get ripped of every time i turn around, ill move to nyc or san fran....bring back common sense in coconut grove, please....
That is great logic Dreaming, pay $60 in gas to go to Tampa for a free show so that you don't have to pay $5 dollars for the CGAF. If you want to "bring back common sense in Coconut Grove" I think you might want to start with yourself.
Sheesh, me, that is about the biggest straw man that I've seen in a long time.
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