[Milsurplus] Frostfest

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 2:11 PM, <mstangelo at comcast.net> wrote:

>
> Some that I can think of in the North East are:
>
> NEAR-Fest - Deerfield, NH - May 2,3 2014
>
> Sussex Hamfest - Augusta, NJ 07822 - July 2014
>

I've heard  good things about Sussex but never attended. Might be one to
try to make next year. Several friends attend and say it's got plenty of
gear still. Manassas is another I'd like to attend. Berryville, though
small, seems to have a very high ratio of good stuff.

As one of the original three founders of NEAR-Fest (W1RC, W2INR, myself) I
can shed some light on the overall hamfest picture. When the three guys who
made up the Hosstraders (Joe, Norm, & Bob) announced they were retiring the
event, Mike/W1RC aka 'MrMike' was beside himself. We'd been speaking
recently about how much we enjoyed this event over the decades, how many
hamfests had fallen by the wayside, and so on. Along with Gary/W2INR, we
came up with a plan to replace the twice-a-year event with a similar event
simply to insure the Northeast would still have a place for folks to go to
hock their goods as well as socialize.

A couple things we decided early on:

First, an exit strategy. We would still put on the event twice a year as
long as the crowd held up. We've had excellent attendance even when the WX
was poor (it is New England after all), and attendance has been consistent
between 2-3K since the first event. However, that's about half what the
Hosstraders saw in their best years. There just aren't the people active
there was 25 years ago. Recognizing this, we realized eventually we may
have to move to just one event per year. Seven years into it and there's no
sign of that need yet.

Second, keep the junk out. Meaning, the computer slag dealers, people
selling lawn ornaments, used clothing, etc. Nothing will drag a hamfest
down faster than folks attending to look over radio gear and having to wade
through yard sale junk to find any. We've been fairly successful so far.
One of the things that drove people away from Timonium was the junk they
allowed in. Big boxes of used clothes, tables full of cheap Chinese toys,
on and on. The only good radio stuff seemed to be in the tailgating area,
which they closed down last year.

There were more tables of unrelated junk(cheese, jewelry, toys, bansai
trees etc) at FrostFest this year than I've seen before. Not sure if this
is a result of the big snow storm a few years back knocking them for a loop
or not, but when a group starts to turn a hamfest into a neighborhood flea
market in an attempt to sell tables, it's usually a sign of things to come
in the not-too-distant future. I attribute our good sales this past weekend
to being two of the tables with plenty of actual radio stuff. With
NEAR-Fest, we decided that when we reach the point that radio-related
vendors drop to the level that it's no longer an attractive event, we'd
just end it. Not turn it into Junkfest in an attempt to pull in a few $.
The money you make off a few more junk tables is lost several times over by
the folks who don't bother to come anymore.

Along with less or flat interest levels, I think a lot of smaller events
just died a natural death. At one time in the 80s it seemed like every club
was having a 'fest to finance a repeater. Some actually became good events,
most never turned out to be much more than a private club activity
attendance-wise.

Here's hoping that some of the better events will be around for years to
come. The few opportunities we still have to hang around with friends while
talking radio or wandering down aisles of old gear are treasured times to
me.

~ Todd/KAQ