INSIDE SHOW BUSINESS

I'm getting ready to fly up North again this Wednesday in the middle of winter to participate at another Sportsmen Show.  I love to do Shows but I sure hope the weather will not be too bad while I am there.  Our South West Florida weather has me spoiled. This one is the PHILADELPHIA FISHING SHOW 2/21-23 at the GREATER PHILADELPHIA AREA EXPO CENTER in the suburb of Oaks, PA. This is the second year for this show and for A.F.F.S. being there.  It promises to be even bigger and better than last year, which hit a home run from its opening day. This is exactly what I forecast would happen when the N.M.M.A. in its "wisdom" decided to walk away from its successful (by attendance numbers) Sportsmen Show in this exact same venue.  I advised my long time friend, Dave DeGenarro (Fisherman Flea Markets promoter of 1 day events in New Jersey and New York) to take a shot with this opportunity. Dave is quite glad he listened and I suppose the other Show promoter I also urged to take it but did not, now wishes he had listened to me.  Instead, the other promoters' main event in New Jersey sadly continues to deteriorate in its quality of exhibitors yet it survives simply because of the population density in that market and the general publics' boredom during wintertime in the Metropolitan N.Y.C. area.  There is always a new "crop" of vendors, guides, charter captains, products and services that have a dream and can be persuaded to take an exhibitor booth or space.  Sadly we did not participate at this Event in January as we have for the past 30 years and may not ever again. Generally speaking, the more successful exhibitors become, the more they realize they will do far better by participating at targeted specialty shows such as the FLY FISHING SHOW, SALTWATER FISHING SHOW, KAYAK, CAMPER or BOAT SHOWS. You can put on just about anything in North Jersey called a Sportsmen Show and get away with it as long as no one else comes along and puts on a better one.  Unfortunately, this is now practically impossible, as there is only 1 Exhibition Hall left that has the facilities to host such an event since the closing of the Hall in Somerset, N.J. None of the 5 Boros of N.Y. have one except the Javitts Center which priced way out of Promoters, Vendors and most attendees price ranges.  The only viable venue left is the N.J. Convention Center in Edison, N.J.  The same thing happened in the Philly Market with the closure of the Fort Washington and Valley Forge facilities leaving only the Oaks Expo Center available. It is true that there is the downtown Convention center in Philly but the costs involved there for promoters, vendors and attendees also make it not a viable option. So that's the inside story on the business of Shows.  Looking forward to seeing a number of my old friends and new acquaintances next weekend.