Looking for opinions here for the NE Georgia swap meet. The March 2-day show was a big success, and the monthly 1-day shows continue to grow. The April show was hurt bad by the forcast for thunderstoms, and it still did better than the BEST show of my first year. That's real progress. We're going to have 2-day shows in March and November for sure. A show in July is smack between the two, so another 2-day fits well. A major factor that plays in it all is the track's racing schedule: a 2-day won't work when they have a Saturday night race--their spectator parking, racers parking their rigs on our drivers prior to the gates opening, and most importantly it'd be very, very hard to police the overnight spaces with a race going on and people walking to and from thier cars all night. Security is an issue. BUT...for the 4th of July (Wedensday), the track is having a huge event, and they will NOT have a race the following Saturday night, July 7. They are having a Saturday night show on June 30, my regular First Sunday show is the next day, July 1st. I could do a two-day show July 7/8, but I HAVE to keep the 1-day show on Sunday the 1st, or the sheep will get all confused. Pushing the regular show back a week isn't an option; It HAS to remain "The First Sunday of Every Month"...people are finally starting to get that ingrained on their brain. What is your opinion of doing the July 1 swap and car show, followed the next weekend with a two-day swap meet and car show? Would people show for the big one? I wouldn't be worried about the one-day show being hurt if people feel they have to choose one over the other, but does anyone think the two-day show would be too much too soon, or ????? If I'm going to do the two-day, I need to decide this weekend so I can get ads in the NSRA's Street Scene, Ragtops, Cruise News, etc. Your thoughts? -Brad
My two cents: You're right to continue the regular schedule. You'll never know until you try the two-day, but I say go for it. One thing I know: you can never get any better at anything if you continue doing the same thing all the time. In my case, I live too far away to make the Sunday swap meet after church. One of these days, maybe I can make it, but God and Family are in line ahead of my cars -- or at least, I try to keep it that way
I would stick with what you've got on the Sundays. I personally don't have time to go 2 days in a row. Damn I was hoping you were going to ask about the loud music.
Yeah, the Maggie Swap - now at the Ag Center in Fletcher, off I-26 south of Asheville, is June 29 - July 1. And the HAMB drive-in up in Ohio is the 30th, about a five hour drive from Asheville. It wouldn't hurt to try a couple of two-day swaps. Just a suggestion, if you wanted to try something different, is a swap location on the southwest side of ATL, or just south of the city. These would be some other time than the first sunday, of course.
Well, it looks like Maggie Valley is the same day then as my regular Sunday 1-day show. That's fine, I usually end up going up against something. So, the way to look at that is: If all those vendors are going to be there for Maggie Valley, they'll be in the region anyway and can come to my 2-day show the next weekend. A two-day show will draw more than a 1-day show, so I'd rather have a week one-day on July 1 and a strong 2-day the weekend after. Looks like I'm doing a 2-day the second weekend in July. *****: doing a show on the South side, the problem is finding a venue to have it at. I've been doing a percentage with the track I use...that's cool, because if I have a rain-out, weak show, whatever, I only pay him a percentage of what I brought in. Everywhere else I looked wanted a flat fee, and it was pretty stiff. I'd have NEVER been able to keep this going if I had to pay a flat fee every month. -Brad
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