I have received questions from
many of the dealers along with the public, as to
why there is not a show in Saint Charles, MO at
the end of January, 2013. The simple reason is WGH
(World's Greatest Hobby on Tour). They will be
holding an event in Mid-January downtown at
America's Center.
It is my belief that the crowd, if
I were to run a show in Saint Charles, a few weeks
later would be impacted and down a bit. I
charge you (the exhibitors) a higher price for
Saint Charles, because the facility is so
expensive. I do not think it is fair to you to
charge a higher price, knowing the crowd will be
down some. It doesn't work for me, and it doesn't
work for you.
I am concerned however about
missing one of our strongest markets, in the best
time of year. Many members of the public as well
as a lot of the diehard modelers won't want the
hassle of going downtown for WGH
not to mention they will be hit with huge
costs to parking down there. All
of my Saint Louis area shows offer Free
Parking and the downtown costs will turn
off a lot of folks! There is also the
added risk of the Rams either
playing that weekend, or a real mess if they
happen to be playing in that building that
weekend. My date is an off weekend for Football,
so there is no NFL risk.
So, with all of this in mind, I
sat down with the manager of the Belleville
facility this weekend. He had the last weekend of
January open. A show that has used that weekend
for the last two years changed dates, and it was
there. So, I have taken in and am adding
Belleville, IL to the show schedule. The show will
be January 26
& 27, 2013.
I believe this will work out great
for everyone:
·
For GTE, it
allows me to keep a Saint Louis area show in the
prime show season, while massively lowering the
risks of following WGH.
·
For the
public, it offers them an alternative to the
higher admission costs of WGH, the higher parking
price as well as the hassles of heading
downtown.
·
For you, the exhibitor, it offers you the
chance to still exhibit in our Saint Louis market,
to our regular customers, in prime season, at a
lower cost than years past. Belleville will be a
lower price show, not the higher price Saint
Charles is. Plus, it will be tremendously cheaper
than what WGH charges to
exhibit.
I view this as a win, win, win for
everyone. I will send the normal direct mail I do
to the Saint Charles crowd, letting them know
about the move which will bring many of them over.
I believe this will wind up being a great
show.
I am updating the exhibitor pack
and layout pack and will have them on the website
shortly. I would expect this show to sell out
quickly, so please let me know if you are
interested.
Thank you, and I hope to see you
at a show soon,
Bill