This weekend my wife and I are going to the 25th Annual Hyde Park Village Art Festival in Tampa as will thousands of others with five Florida festivals going on across the state..

As the rainy season ends, many artists and craftsmen come to the Sunshine State and make it a winter vacation/business selling their works to Floridians and snowbirds.  Every year the competition gets tougher – some 1100 artists try out for just 225 spaces in  the March Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival.  Artists tell me they sell best at this show.

You need to go to http://www.artfestival.com to get the complete listings, but here are some of my favorite annual art shows:

Nov 1-2  – Halifax Art Festival in Riverfront Park in Daytona Beach.

Nov 8 & 9 – 26th St Armands Art Festival in Sarasota.

Nove 29 & 30 – 51st Space Coast Art Festival now at Port Canaveral.

Jan 3 & 4 – 27th Las Olas Art Fair in Fort Lauderdale (see photo).

Jan 10 & 11 – 28th Boca Fest in Boca Raton.

Feb 7 & 8 – Mount Dora Arts Festival (huge and fun).

Feb 14 & 15 – 27th Downtown Sarasota Festival of the Arts.

Feb 14 & 16 – Coconut Grove Arts Festival (largest no. of artists).

Feb 28-Mar 1 – Gasparilla Festival of the Arts downtown Tampa.

Mar 20 – 22 – Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival.

Happy buying and watching.