Partying in the rain

Michelle and me.

I started Saturday night at CocoWalk, waiting in the rain for the tree lighting, which never happened. Apparently the postponed it until next week but didn't notify people. So I then ended up going down to the Arts Festival Gallery. There was a free trolley running for the night from the Arts Festival Gallery to Kroma in Village West and back around to the Sonesta.

Monty Trainer was flagging down the trolley in front of the Arts Festival Gallery so that everyone could get on and take a ride to the other galleries, but people would take parking spaces in the trolley stop and the trolley then could not stop, so he had me flagging cars away every time they parked in the spaces in front. We put out poinsettias for a while to block the spaces, but some guy drove up and grabbed them and drove off!

Eventually we got on the trolley and headed to Kroma, my new favorite place. That's Monty, Boris and Marcus getting on the trolley above. I joined them.

While the rest of the Grove was quiet due to the rain, I found that half the Grove was at Kroma. It was so much fun. There were people there who I hadn't seen for awhile. I hung out with Ron and Joyce Nelson, Michelle Niemeyer, Al Crespo and so many others. Above are Carl Askia El-Amin, Ricardo Treco, Council General of the Bahamas; Jihad Rashid, president of the Grove Collaborative; Monty Trainer, Commissioner Ken Russell and Corky Dozier. 

 There was great music, food and drink. At one point, I did my falling act. I don't know why, but I fall sometimes, I think my shoes get slippery in the rain. What is strange is that I fall in slow motion, this has happened more than once - the slow motion thing. Not many people saw me, but it was right in the middle of the room. And Michelle, who saw me fall, agreed that it was in slow motion. Weird. 

The rain did not keep people away. And it sort of added to the evening.

I enjoyed the various galleries inside Kroma. Various artists have their own spaces inside where they work and display their art. There is a beautiful patio out back.

I promised to be back. I felt very at home there. It was a combination of the South Florida Art Center on Lincoln Road and Anna Maria's Windish-Hunt Gallery.

Corky Dozier, Rodney Jackson, curator of Kroma; Jahid Rashid, Matthew Wildgoose, Bahamian artist; Jennifer Treco, Monty Trainer and Ricardo Treco, stand in front of Matthew's art.

From Kroma, I took the trolley to the Sonesta for the Philip Burke exhibit, had some champagne and crab cakes and then walked with Lilia Garcia, back to her gallery, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival Gallery, where we were treated to a final nightcap of Corky singing Christmas songs to Ronnie Brooks and his group out in the Atrium. Corky made it down from Kroma via trolley to round off the night.

At Kroma: Betty Wright's work.

At Kroma: Masks by Julia Polonyi.