needairtime
Member
I suspect hamfests are organized by a local radio club.
What I'm wondering is the size and duration of hamfests. I recall some along the east coast going to two days. I don't recall which one that was.
And of course Dayton Hamvention is fairly well known and even goes to a third day.
Just wanted to contrast it with the local ones here: the hamfests around here in CO usually are one day events, usually only 4 or 5 hours total before it's called a wrap! Fortunately there are enough small clubs in the region that one holds one every 3 or so months, though each only have one per year. Not only this, the vendor attendance is fairly small, I would estimate there are usually no more than ~80 tables per event, some dropped to the ~30 tables mark and struggle for attendance. On the positive side, the event is done completely indoors - no rain, no mud, and tend to have electricity readily available for demos.
The realization is that this was somewhat meant to be a fundraiser for the club, but is it purely club size or is it simply how many hams there are in a particular region that determines how "big" each hamfest is? Anyone find that these 4 hour hamfests once a year as "tiny"? (Start at 8AM, everyone's gone by 12PM that day). Also the building or lot rentals, typically done at county fairgrounds, I suspect also costs some money but not sure how much that goes for.
BTW, the CO-specifics: I've only gone to the LARC, BARC, ARA, NCARC, DRC hamfests (sorted ascending in average size, IMHO). PPRA is the next closest, but I find it too far to drive for a 4-hour event if it's anything like the ones I have went to. LARC's hamfest seems to be dying though they are working with BARC (they even share the same location) and perhaps another crafts club of sort to offset the building rental costs.
What I'm wondering is the size and duration of hamfests. I recall some along the east coast going to two days. I don't recall which one that was.
And of course Dayton Hamvention is fairly well known and even goes to a third day.
Just wanted to contrast it with the local ones here: the hamfests around here in CO usually are one day events, usually only 4 or 5 hours total before it's called a wrap! Fortunately there are enough small clubs in the region that one holds one every 3 or so months, though each only have one per year. Not only this, the vendor attendance is fairly small, I would estimate there are usually no more than ~80 tables per event, some dropped to the ~30 tables mark and struggle for attendance. On the positive side, the event is done completely indoors - no rain, no mud, and tend to have electricity readily available for demos.
The realization is that this was somewhat meant to be a fundraiser for the club, but is it purely club size or is it simply how many hams there are in a particular region that determines how "big" each hamfest is? Anyone find that these 4 hour hamfests once a year as "tiny"? (Start at 8AM, everyone's gone by 12PM that day). Also the building or lot rentals, typically done at county fairgrounds, I suspect also costs some money but not sure how much that goes for.
BTW, the CO-specifics: I've only gone to the LARC, BARC, ARA, NCARC, DRC hamfests (sorted ascending in average size, IMHO). PPRA is the next closest, but I find it too far to drive for a 4-hour event if it's anything like the ones I have went to. LARC's hamfest seems to be dying though they are working with BARC (they even share the same location) and perhaps another crafts club of sort to offset the building rental costs.