[Boatanchors] Dayton Documents Arrived Today

[Michael Crestohl]

   John,  I  see  the  same  trend up here in the Northeast as well.  Our
   premier event,
   HOSSTRADERS  is  no  more.  The three organizers who have been hosting
   the event
   for 33 years (!) decided to hang it up after a very successful October
   HOSSTRADERS
   so  they  could  "go  out  on  a  high note".  During this period they
   donated over 1.3 million
   dollars  to  the Shriners' Hospital Burns Units in Boston, Springfield
   and Montreal.  What
   an  outstanding achievement that was!!!!  They certainly deserve their
   retirement.
   I and some friends have decided to institute a new regional event, The
   New England
   Amateur  Radio Festival, or NEAR-Fest, in its place.  It is being held
   on Friday May 4th
   and   Saturday  May  5th  2007.   I  have  secured  the  Deerfield  NH
   Fairgrounds which was
   home  to  HOSSTRADERS  for  fifteen  years.   The  last HOSSTRADERS at
   Deerfield was
   in  October  1992.   So  in  a sense we in New England are "going back
   where we came
   from".
   NEAR-Fest  will  be much more than a flea market.  It is also a social
   event.  In addition
   we  are  also  going  to  have  various  events to supplement the flea
   market.  Excitement
   here  in  New England and Eastern Canada is pretty intense at the idea
   of going back to
   Deerfield  next  weekend  and  we  hope  that  this  enthusiasm can be
   sustained beyond
   NEAR-Fest  I.    NEAR-Fest  II  is scheduled for October 12th and 13th
   2007 at the same
   location.  Anyways we are giving it our best shot!
   Amateur  radio flea markets will have to evolve beyond being just that
   in order to
   survive  the times in which we live.  eBay is a double-edged sword and
   has affected
   almost  all  the  collecting  hobbies profoundly and irrevocably.  But
   there's more to these
   hobbies than "stuff".
   I  have  learned  a long time ago in another collecting hobby that the
   people are far more
   important that the "stuff" you collect.  Once the "stuff" becomes more
   important than the
   people  you  meet  along  the  way cheating and deception run rampant.
   When this happens
   it's time to get a new hobby.
   As  a good friend in that hobby told me many years ago: "When they put
   you in the box
   and  lower  you in the ground the only thing you take with you is your
   reputation."
   Something to think about!!!!
   73,
   Michael, W1RC
   NEAR-Fest Founder and General Chairman
   At 04:01 AM 4/29/2007, W4AWM at aol.com wrote:

     I foresee the time in the not too distant future when there will be
     no more
     hamfests  and all the buying and selling will be on the reflectors,
     eHam, ARRL
     and  other web sites, plus those awful unmentionable auction places
     and Craigs
     List. It is getting close to that now!