© 2007 ExpoShips, LLLP

David and Lee Ann Lester at a Champagne Send-Off

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Did you choose your ports with that idea in mind?

We wanted to give them a variety of ports. You want to go to the wealthy suburban areas; you want to go to some metropolitan areas.

What was the vetting process for the dealers like? Are they galleries that you worked with in Palm Beach?

Yeah, almost all of them—90 percent of them.

What has it been like working with the U.S. Coast Guard?

Complicated! I had no idea what we were getting into. They’ve insisted that we do everything entirely the proper way. And we’ve finally passed all of the coastguard tests.

Congratulations! I heard that you’re planning on doing other themed boats in the future.

Yeah: one fashion, one pharmaceutical. We’d like to do some different things in different industries.

But they would all be fairs?

Something like that: expositions.

What are some of the lessons that you’ve learned while creating SeaFair?

They’re too numerous to discuss. We’re in the art fair business, we’re in the marine business, we’re in the shipping business, we’re in the coastguard business, and we’re in the restaurant business, all of which are complicated businesses.

It seems like SeaFair is a good indicator of the strength and reach of the art market right now.

I agree. And the art market will always need new ways to reinvent itself.

With that in mind, why do you think people were so wary of SeaFair?

People had no idea what to expect. It’s a seeing-is-believing kind of thing.