Floridiana Festival & Highwaymen Artist Show

The kitschy-kool Floridiana Festival & Highwaymen Artist Show returns to St. Petersburg on Saturday, November 5, 2011, from 10 am to 5 pm at the historic Garden Club of St. Petersburg.  A celebration of Florida's cultural and historical legacies, this show features exhibitors selling an abundance of old roadside attraction kitsch, as well as vintage Florida art and old tropical decor. 

Featuring old Florida souvenirs and memorabilia spanning the range from alligator ashtrays, flamingo figurines, and citrus-shaped radios, to postcards and other fun ephemera from the Sunshine State's old parks and hotels, the Floridiana Festival brings together premier exhibitors and collectors of vintage Floridiana, clamoring to be the first ones to discover some unique Florida finds.  Serious collectors will enjoy the selection of alligator memorabilia, souvenir spoons and hotel ephemera from Florida's "golden age of souvenirs," while more casual collectors of kitsch can find postcards of bathing beauties and old tourist attractions, alligator purses and other Florida fashion.  Kitsch rules at this show, definitely, but for decorators looking for some genuine, vintage tropical furnishings, it’s also a hot spot to pick up some old rattan, tropical lamps, and beautiful wall art. 

A special feature of the Floridiana Festival & Highwaymen Artist Show is the opportunity to meet and mingle with many of the Florida Highwaymen artists.  The Florida Highwaymen were a group of 26 African American artists (one woman and twenty-five men) who traveled Florida's roads (mainly on the east coast) in the late 1950's and early 1960's, selling their art from the trunks of their cars.  They targeted the many new small motels, doctor's and lawyer's offices that were popping up along the roads, and often sold their paintings while they were still wet.  Although the surviving artists are now well into their 60's and 70's. their art today is as beautiful as those pieces they painted almost 50 years ago. 

In addition to the exhibitors selling an abundance of Florida memorabilia, highlights include:

- Meet and mingle with the Florida Highwaymen artists, who will be selling their beautiful Florida sea and landscape paintings.    

Highwaymen artists appearing on November 5^th include James Gibson, Issac Knight, Robert Lewis, Willie Reagan, Roy McLendon Sr., Curtis Arnett, Carnell Smith and Charles Walker.

- Lecture, slide presentation and book signings by author Lu Vickers on her books Weeki Wachee: City of Mermaids and Cypress Gardens: America's Tropical Wonderland...PLUS, you’ll be able to meet several of the ORIGINAL Weeki Wachee mermaids who will be on hand to discuss their time at Weeki Wachee.  You know the saying, “Once a mermaid, always a mermaid!” and these ladies will entertain with their insights into an underwater life!  University Press will also be publishing a third of Ms. Vickers books in early 2012, a pictorial essay of Weeki Wachee.  Ken Breslauer, author of Roadside Paradise: The Golden Age of Florida’s Tourist Attractions: 1929-1971 will also be at the show to sell his book and roadside attraction kitsch. 

The Garden Club of St. Petersburg is located at 500 Sunset Drive South, at the intersection of Park Street and 5th Avenue South in St. Petersburg, near the western end of Central Avenue close to the bridge over to Treasure Island. 

Show admission is $6.00; children under three years are $3.00.  Free parking. 

For info, contact Hula Hula Productions at (727) 421-0441 or visit www.hulahula.biz.

The show’s outgrowing this location, and will move to St. Petersburg College’s Palladium Theatre in downtown St. Petersburg for the January 2012 show!