Why are prices so high in Coconut Grove?
Why are these ice cream pop from Just Desserts $7 each at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival and $4 to $5 at all the other festivals? Is $10 for a gyro the way it is now? They are $7 at other festivals.
I'm really getting tired of being ripped off every year. I guess I could just say, "no," but I'm there, I'm hungry and I think, "well, it's just a few dollars more." Also, these scammers never have the prices listed so you don't know what you're paying until it's too late.
The Tea Room that I wrote about charges such great prices, they are able to make it with fair market value and their proceeds go to the church charity. $5 for two scones with whipped cream and strawberries and unlimited refills of hot tea is a bargain.
The girls who sold ribs for $10 for 4 small pieces that you needed a hammer and chisel to navigate and $3 extra for coleslaw should not be allowed back. Their solution for cold ribs was for me to take them home and put them in the microwave.
posted by Tom Falco at 10:00 AM
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33 Comments:
It was $20 to park $15 per person to get in.$10 to $15 per horrible plate of food.and the best one $7 a beer.and for what?to see the same art organized in a horrible way,with hardly enough space to walk.I personally will never come back to the grove for anything.enough is enough!!!!
$20 was cheap it was $30 for parking at grand ave ,fuller st car park Sat and Sun.
Um, supply and demand.
I wish people would quit blaming this situation on the free market or ”supply and demand”. We have a mafia or facist regime in place that is run out of Virginia Street. They set prices directly or indirectly by forcing permits higher. They are trying to make the Grove into a paradise exclusive to anyone who owns a gaudy Maserati and makes six figures.
Unless the next Grove commissioner is elected from a different group (obviously not Sarnoff or Solares) then this will continue uninterrupted. Brickell Grove indeed but with worse traffic and less mass transit.
We went to the Lowes Art Fair at UM a few weeks ago and enjoyed that fair much more than this one. No entrance fee. Free parking. Same Ice Cream was only $3 at that fair. Even the art works seem more affordable than this weekend.
i am both embarrassed and angry to say this, but i desperately paid $5 for a Cortadito! ridiculous all the way around.
As a long time attendee to the festival it's really gone downhill this year I am sick and tired of seeing these super low end food booths that charge outrageous prices for stale weeks old food the festival claims to be the best then they should fix this problem most of these vendors are nasty and if the health inspectors were around they would be closed down if I wanted to eat this stool shit I would go to the dude county fair if the festival is going to bill itself number one next year get rid of all that dog crap and bring in some first class vendors !!!!
Supply and demand! If people stop going and eating there, prices will go down! What part of this simple economic law you do not understand? I stop going because of that. If you keep accepting whatever they charge you are the guilty part.
I have stopped going to the festival for a few years now due to low quality art and over commercialization and only hangout at the peripheries because it gives me a nostalgic feeling of how the crowds and lively atmosphere was over ten years ago. Sorry, the festival was great but now it is only a money making machine.
Not only were the vendor prices high, but it was cash only. What the hell, its 2015, accept a card. Thankfully they had 2 atms on site which charged me $7, aka one beer, to access my money.
I agree with the post saying that the food and beverage is costlier here than at other festivals. The vendors can easily spot the fashion and the bling. No doubt that they will lower their prices at a festival being held on the outskirts of town.
(Again, that bad man Commissioner Sarnoff is to blame according to one anonymous comment. You are too funny!)
Every year keeps getting worse and worse. And agree that Sarnoff is a major contributing factor. Let's make it worse by voting in his clueless, inexperienced wife!!!
Hey 3:59 -
I bought a beer at one vendor and a gyro at another vendor with a credit card. I noticed many vendors taking them.
OK THEN. forget the festival and it's expensive bad food and average appeal but very expensive art. Just say no. Then walk on over to the delightful Gifford Lane Art Stroll Sunday the first of March. Say hi to neighbors and friends ,the real grove folks with real grove vibe and listen to real grove music and see very nice and affordable art . Dance in the street and smile.
If you want to experience a true art fair without the cost, come to the Gifford Lane Art Stroll on March 1st. Tom has reported on it in the past so if you're not familiar with "how the Grove used to be", take a look at the past articles on the Grapevine and join us in a couple of weeks on Gifford Lane between Oak and Day. We will have 60 artists, free music, free people watching and no complaints about overpriced food or drinks.
$15 for admission??? What is going on??? My friend also had to pay $20 for parking at Cocowalk!!
Just awful. Beaux Arts festival garages are free and close by and it is free to walk in. The food booths are great and very unique. The onesat CG Fest were expensive and siscusting. And, $30 for a festival shirt???
Dogs not allowed but in strollers???
Try talking to the Festival organization and they will tell you it is expensive to put on this festival.
Maybe the gating has cost more than the price of admission is worth. How about cutting down on the number of artists and the footprint of the show. It is too long to easily cover and has become overwhelming, not in a good way.
Why does it have to be all things to all people? Why can't it be an art festival again. Why are cooking demonstrations needed? Why do they have to have numerous bands. Why not one or two that play appropriate music. Do kids really need zip lines? How about an art tent where they can make their own art and stimulate their imaginations?
What is happening now is not what was originally intended.
And while they claim to donate money to art worthy causes, $1 million dollars after 50 years does not seem to be much. Where is all the money they are taking in from high booth fees and gate admissions going?
2 $ for st. Stevens was far better deal, but outside of the tea room the food wasnt great either. My parents got sick off the cgaf food If you are going to serve that kind of junk why is their an entrance fee at all? To, sell your art we need to see it. To see it we need to make the rounds. To make the rounds without passing out we need to eat. I say either open up the festival to the fleet of amazing food trucks in this town who can handle the crowd and serve good food or drop the entrance feel So we can come and go as we please and enjoy one of our many great places to eat in town.
• Reveal the Profit and Loss Statement
• Salaries of director, staff and Board of Directors
• Amount of money taken in at gate, exhibitors and food vendors
• Amount of money that goes for student or artist grants
• How are director, staff and Board selected
• Why is director a former convicted federal criminal
• Compare Grove Art Fest with others in MDC as well as major national festivals
• Why is there an entrance fee if the event is on a public street
• Why is it that South Miami and Beaux Art Fest requires so few-off duty police and Grove Art Fest needs hundreds at considerable expense
• Miami Police Special Events Dept. determine how many Police will be required for an event, they are not overseen by a citizen board, so they determine how many police will be needed and the off-duty fees. Many event promotes tell them that their event will help fill hotel rooms and bring international attention to Miami. The Police call the shots and only care about how many officers they can stack in the event.
Yes the thing used to be free and we are all pissed at that. The sponsor is the one who is putting these big Condos that nobody wants on Bayshore but he is doing his civic duty by kissing ass and sponsoring the this thing. Imagine that. How many of you people have not woken up and said "i will never eat vendor food again." It sucks and you should expect that. Hell I walked to Fresh Market. Love that place. Very good point about where does the money go. The guy with the wood models you turn around paid 1700 for his booth. ten years ago 500.
Reid W Prevatt
I spent my money on art and went to lunch at restaurant in the Grove.
Fair food, no matter where you are, always smells better than it actually is. Caveat emptor.
"I personally will never come back to the grove for anything.enough is enough!!!!"
If you had such a bad time at last year's event, why did you come back this year?
"Ive been living in the grove for so long and i havent been to this festival for a few years because its always the same.i decided to try it out yesterday and i remembered why i stoped going.oh my lord what a poorly organized event.so much greed.its no wonder the grove is dead"
Same old trolling about everything sucking.
Tom, I am so tired of these Anonymous posts. If you have something to say attach your name to it.
Jack, you are anonomyous, too. Your names links to nothing to prove you are real.
This "Arts" show, and many others these days, are nothing more than a shameless spectacle of abominable crap, cheap or expensive.
Under the guise of "Art" they claim to put up a family "event" at a high level.. First, the "Art" is 80% absolute CRAP. They would have to pay me to throw it at the nearest dumpster. Another 10% is over-priced recurring mass production from the same "artists" year after year. Then you might see one piece that's somewhat interesting, after inhaling the obnoxious fumes of the greasy plastic food sold everywhere, absolutely every inch of the freaking "Arts" show.
And the music was not much better. I only go because I live here, no parking and half-price tickets, and I could only stomach it this year for a couple hours..
Gifford is much better, Hopefully the neighbors will know how to keep that Arts show intact,clean and true.
Did those of you who attended notice how very few African-Americans where at the Grove Art Festival? This gated and entry fee event prevents low income families from attending and enjoying our community and its culture. Someone from the West Grove should sue (like they did with the Trolley Station). No public street or public park should be gated and allowed a promoter to charge an entrance fee.
Most comments are posted anomalously, to express ones true concerns and suggestions in hope of avoiding the nasty personal attacks that are often made by several malcontents.
The West Grove? I'm white and from the South Grove and I can't afford that show either. St. Stephens is more in my price range. Haven't been to the Grove Art Show in years. I thought the best one was when they charged to get to the art, but everything else was free. That kept the riff raff out of the art booths and we were able to see everything.
Tom, I thought by signing my name you, of all people, would be able to figure it out.
Even St Stephens this year was barely worth the 2 bucks. I was in&out in 10 mins. lousy "art" for the most part, and filled with rancid and greasy crap smells all over, at every corner. These "events" are now disgusting.
Worthless, except perhaps for that tacky "tea" spot and the guy playing the straight wood "guitar". Now that was the only good thing there. 2 bucks well spent.
Ya'all missed the fantastic, scrumptious $12 Turkey Legs. Unforgettable gourmet delicacy, (right next to the Mones and Van Gogh original pieces).
The only thing left in the grove worth spending my money on is the little taco shop.everything else needs to be torn down
In all fairness, the art at the Grove show is actually very good. It is the one thing that has remained consistent as the rest of the show has circled the drain.
Art is very subjective and I scratch my head at some of the things that I see but all in all, it is a top quality show.
That is one the biggest reasons that all the ancillary things are so unnecessary. It is pure greed on the part of the board.
The Coconut Grove Art Show was great this year, so I'm not sure what people are complaining about. They've charged an entrance fee ever since the state yanked funding.
St. Stephens was something of a disappointment. I don't mind paying the $2 as it goes to a good cause, but there wasn't much going on except for one or two artists. The quality has been steadily going down over the last few years, and most people seem to go for the kettle corn and Arnold Palmers that the friendly Iowa couple sells.
On a positive note, I noticed several former St. Stephens artists at the CGAF, so I hope they can network and expand their client/fan base.
As far as the comment above about the lack of African American artists at the festival, there were a few, and of those, most have won prizes for their work, in particular the Nigerian artist who works with bronze sculptures.
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