Adam Schafer and I, working with Jim Canter, attempted to keep the Indy Show going. We had some ideas that just didn't work out.
Hotels want too much money at the present time. We looked at 2 less expensive venues and while one of those would have worked for the show, financially it would not have worked for a couple guys from out of state.
Social interaction is half the fun of the "O" Scale Meets. Pulling off the same kind of show in fair park space would be difficult without transportation, food, seating areas and overnight rooms. Including that somehow, becomes cost prohibitive. While most people could get by on their own, any drop in attendance could lead to a cascading effect. With the exceptional attendance of last year, we would need all the same moving forward to keep the vendors and keep everybody else interested in attending.
When people think of the "less expensive venues", they understandable don't consider the expectations of the O Scale Community in a non-hotel environment, which would require lower admission cost. While the space might be less expensive, the advertising cost would be the same and staff expense would increase.
For this to work, a local group would have to run it with local volunteers who would not need overnight accommodations. They would also have to depend on word of mouth and free advertising, then hope that enough are willing to show up to make it worth the effort.
As expensive as the hotels are, they provide very nice finished space, seating areas, food, overnight rooms and transportation. The hotels are easy to find, there is a phone number to call and generally speaking the same hotels have been available to us so everybody knows where to go and where their favorite eating places are, if they prefer to venture out.
I was talking to Mr. Adam Schafer last night, before I saw this thread. We discussed last years Indy Meet and how much fun it was and how sad it was that we couldn't go again this year:-)
