I went to the exhibitor and vendor meeting that the Tulare folks had last May to critique the show. They let everyone speak their piece and the room was almost always evenly divided on some of the core issues such as the $10 exhibitor fee.
The meeting was promoted as how can we improve this show. But the elephant in the room was: If we do not make some changes, the show will be lost. They are severely restricted by insurance requirements.
The following are the notes I made for the California Cletrac Club:
I attended the exhibitors debriefing meeting for the Tulare Antique Farm Show on May 21, 2014 in Tulare. The 2.5 hour meeting had 80-90 attendees and lively discussion. Katy Young, show manager, is going to provide an official summary which I will forward to Richard.
A list of topics was provided, see attachment, at each table, we were given time for discussion and then verbally brought our suggestions to the entire group. Katy also requested written suggestion be given to her at the end of the meeting. At my table was Carl, a Ford tractor restorer and Keith, a gem vendor. The financials and attendance can be seen in the second attachment. The show lost $3900 this year which was better than the 6 year average of $10,000. There were comments to keep the admission at $5.00 and not any higher. I told Katy that the mailed instructions said no trucks could deliver on the show grounds during the show time. They did not enforce this as I was able to drive on the show grounds and unload during the show. But it was a turnoff to me that potential unloading was going to be a problem.
There was discussion on how to better promote the show. Katy agreed to make up flyers and posters to be ready by September 1 and will deliver to anybody who requests them. She also needs contact names of people who could help distribute. In addition, she needs names of Clubs and Club members who have dropped out as she would like to personally contact them.
Insurance requirements have put a damper on the show. For example, the show can no longer run the forklifts after 5:00 pm. They are looking at making an insurance change because of the restrictions.
The $10 exhibitor fee had a wide range of approval/disapproval. Some people said they spend hundreds of dollars to restore and get there and the $10 is an insult. My impression was that most people felt the fee is necessary to keep the show open. A similar discussion occurred about the $80 RV fee. Some thought it was too high and others thought it was a bargain. I think the biggest problem was the sudden jump to $80. There was a request to bring the outside RVs closer.
There were complaints the entertainment was too loud at dinner and it might be best to separate the two, if not eliminate the entertainment altogether.
I did verbally, to Katy, and also in written form; request that a designated person should be able to spend the night in a camper at each site for security.
Better speakers were requested for the parade and a shorter return route.
Several requests were made to bring the quilters back and provide for more family type events. This year’s event did include: Dairy Dash Run, Barnyard Olympics and Kids Day Field Trip. A Rock and Gem Show was requested by Keith. He said this has already been done at other tractor shows and has been successful. Some people requested the Tractor Pull needed to be back with maybe a competitive event on Sunday and an amateur event on Saturday. There was some talk to only run the show to 12:00 on Sunday. There was a request to bring the Slow Tractor contest back and the Steam Tractors.
They are contemplating on-line registration only with packet at will-call. More variety in the food was requested.
Overall, it was a very positive meeting with Katy being very open to suggestions. She can be reached at
[email protected]. She would like to hear from you.
Sorry, everytime I tried to post the attachments, the software logged me out.