Five Points Fest Recap

    The second annual Five Points Festival has come and gone and it was an amazing time.  I spent lots of money, saw a lot of old friends, and made a lot of new ones.  An event like this is so important to not only bring collectors and creators together, but to offer so much inspiration under one roof.  While my wallet might not be looking forward to next year already, I certainly am.  Here's my random thoughts from this year's show:

- The venue change from Manhattan to Brooklyn made getting to there a little more difficult, but the walk offered a lot of spectacular views.  Sharon and I got to see a lot of different street art and you couldn't beat the view of Manhattan.

- There seemed to be way more designer toy vendors this year, which I was happy to see.  Artists that rarely make it to the east coast had tables full of items I've never been able to see in person. It was overwhelming in the best possible way.

- The venue itself was nice but could have used a serious upgrade in the air conditioning department. I apologize to everyone who thought I was going into diabetic shock, but me and the heat don't get along to well.  Granted it was in the 90's all day, which combined with a city setting is not unlike being cremated.

-  When heading back to Penn Station we saw a lady try to stab a guy with a pair of scissors.  I yelled "Worldstar" but couldn't get my phone out quickly enough, so you'll just have to use your imagination like the old days.

- It was great to see so many artists who are independently producing their work and that are able to have it presented on such a large platform.  Every person I spoke with had such an inspiring story to tell not only about their creations buy the journey towards making them a reality.  It makes me want to work harder with what I do and with what I want to do.  

-    On the ride home we were sitting next to a couple who was obviously on their honeymoon.  He reached into a bag and pulled out two cans of Diet Coke.  She reached into her purse and pulled out personalized koozies from their wedding.  As I watched them load up their drink holders to prepare for sweet liquid refreshment I couldn't help to think what would have happened had Kelly dropped the ball and left them back at the hotel.

Tom: "Alright babe, prepare to have your thirst quenched because I got us matching Diet Cokes.  All we need now are our personalized wedding koozies so that our hands stay dry and warm while our beverage of choice maintains its coolness."

Kelly:  Exploring the contents of her purse:  "Oh drat, honey bug.  It seems that I've left our personalized wedding koozies back at the hotel.  Now what will we do?"  

Tom:  "Oh, well I guess I should have listened to my mother when she said you weren't wife material."  He the forcefully slams the Diet Cokes into the trash, unaware that the tariffs on aluminum imports will soon make those cans a luxury he can no longer afford.  

New Jersey Transit never disappoints when it comes to great theater.  I don't even know why people bother paying so much to go to Broadway when you could ride the train all day and be way more enthralled.


That was my experience at this year's event.  If you've never been you need to make it a priority to make it out for next time.  This is the east coast version of DesignerCon and I expect it will continue to grow even bigger.  If you want to check out all my pictures I took you can see them not at www.facebook.com/TheToyViking.