I know Ivan & his crew are really getting discouraged with machines being pulled out early. They know this is what kills a show and have been trying very had to keep growing the show - not kill the show. But I also understand the frustration of both buyers & sellers in the freeplay area.

What kind of bugged me this year was the indoor flea market. Somehow the Fairground booked that side of the hall to another vendor until 5 PM Thursday. So indoor flea market vendors couldn't set up till after 5 PM. Ivan & the crew knew about this ahead of time but no one contacted any of us to let us know. I arrived at the show at 11:45 AM thinking I would grab lunch and start setting up instead we had to sit and wait almost 6 hours before we could start setting up? I talked to some people who got their as early as 9 AM Thursday and were waiting all day to be able to set up. Kind of sad no one took the time to let us indoor sellers know!

Worse yet was I know that cost me at least $1500 to $2000 in sales. Set up day is my 2nd busiest day. Typically I sell about 25% of what I bring Thursday, 50% on Friday, and 10% on Saturday. Anyone that does shows knows set up day is a great selling day so this year we basically lost one day of a 3 day show. Ivan got a refund from the fairgrounds because of the mix up but never offered indoor flea market vendors anything? If I was running the show I would have at lest walked around personally and told each vendor I was sorry for the mix up and hand them $20 to go buy lunch or something.

Overall Allentown is still one of the best shows in the country and it is close to home for me but things could be done better for sure. One change I would make is the hours. If I was running the show I would have "early buyers" Thursday 5 PM till 9 PM letting anyone willing to pay to get in a chance to shop Thursday after 5 PM. Then I would add an hour to Friday starting the show at 11 AM instead of noon. And lastly I would close the show at 5 or 6 PM Sunday letting people start pulling machines at 4 PM instead of 6 PM. Everyone has had enough by 4 PM and most of us just want to get loaded and be on the way home.

Overall Ivan & his crew do a great job but with a few tweaks Allentown could be a MUCH better show.

Ivan,

If you check back on this post I just want to clarify things. First off I try my best to work with everyone and since we were way up in the back of the building I wanted to get their as early as possible so I could get in and out quickly before others started setting up. So I got up around 6 AM to finish loading then drove over two hours just to sit and wait 5 hours to get into the show. I know it wasn't your fault and I really wasn't all that upset by it. I know you are very busy the weeks before the show and I know everything doesn't always go as planned. But bottom line is it was frustrating to not be able to get in and set up early - especially when set up was suppose to be at 1 PM and we couldn't get in till after 5 PM.

I always make a second trip for Friday with more stuff and with the delay in getting set up it made that second trip tough. I got home after midnight and loaded till about 2 AM. Then had to be back on the road by about 7 AM to get things ready for Friday.

My point with my post here is everyone keeps crying about the $25 to get a machine out early when that is clearly in your agreement and paperwork for everyone to read & understand before bringing a machine is nothing to cry about compared to being delayed over 5 hours when setting up.

Again - I know it wasn't your fault but I just wish you would have walked around and said something to the 8 or 10 of us in the back of that building over the weekend. Maybe you did talk to some of the other guys but I didn't get a chance to talk to you all weekend.

As far as "lost sales" - I have 8 guys that were suppose to stop by and see me about 10 different machines Thursday afternoon before they set up (or what ever) and only two actually found me since I had most scheduled for earlier in the day. Not seeing those guys Thursday limited what I could bring back Friday because I didn't want to have more machines once show was over than I could get into the van & trailer coming home Saturday and you never know what will sell for sure. So I know that 5 hours cost me a bunch of sales but such is life.

Thanks for doing an overall great job with the show! I know it isn't an easy task and I also know dealing with 100's of people with different ideas how you should do things can be tough. Please consider "early buyers" Thursday evening (maybe 5 PM to 9 PM with $25 entrance fee) - that would be more gate money and might help sales some for vendors. Also maybe a $50 three day pass idea?

Also please consider 6 PM closing Saturday with people being able to start pulling out by 4 PM. I hate to suggest shorter hours but it might help with guys that have a long drive home.

With everything that I have said and everyone else has said I want to thank you again for putting on a GREAT show and growing the show as much as you have since you took it over. It is hard to believe 8 years ago the flea market side was the entire show! GREAT JOB OVERALL!

Thanks,
Skip

PS - And you have a great crew of guys working with you. Dealing with the general public is no fun so I don't blame any of them for getting a little frustrated at times. GREAT JOB EVERYONE! Life isn't perfect and we all need to accept that and consider all sides of the story. I know I would want to be in any of your boots!

Should say WOULD NOT want to be in any of your boots! Need to proof read before posting!

Ivan,

Shit happens! I know you had a tough year this year just by seeing you a couple times and not even having a chance to talk to you. You looked like you had enough before the show even started! I just sent you a PM but I also want to thank you again here for making Allentown one of the fastest growing shows in the country.

As far as "pulling machines early" - if you guys want to kill a great show keep doing that. There is nothing that will kill a show faster than having people drive to a show to see it half empty. Ending the show earlier might help but pulling machines before the show is over isn't a good idea.

I understand the long drive thing & also 3 long days but will an hour or two really make that much difference in the long run. Let the machines stay - grab dinner - then load at the proper time and drive home!

Well Said!

People need to understand ---- GREAT SHOW needs games to stay. Otherwise it is just a free for all that will be gone in a few years. Ivan has things right and his guys are just doing their job. Try stepping into their shoes and dealing with all the BS and see if you are wearing a happy face at the end of the day!

Well Said! Like I said in an earlier post - "I wouldn't want to be in Ivan's shoes". THANKS FOR ANOTHER GREAT SHOW!

If you don't like the rules don't bring a machine to the show. It is really that simple. But if Ivan & his crew were not doing something right the size of the show would not have doubled in the past 5 or 6 years. I miss shopping the big outdoor flea market but as an indoor flea market vendor I must say if it was still outside only I would not be setting up. I hate seeing machines out in the weather when it isn't necessary!

THANKS AGAIN to Ivan and all his guys for doing a great job overall!