Any “public” spotted in the dealer halls yet?
Judging by the parking lots and traffic in the aisles, how is the overall attendance? Is it higher, lower or the same as a typical April York?
Bill
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I saw 2 women in the Orange Hall without name tags. Do the "public" that are not "guests" get a badge?
The public got a green wrist band. I saw very few of them, and at about 10am, the public admission line was 3 people deep. The TCA line in the silver hall at the same time was nearly out the door.
The parking lot was filled about the same as in the past couple of meets. The halls were not crowded and lots of elbow room in the Orange and purple halls. I saw about 20 people with wrist bands indicating they were paying public. Maybe Saturday will be a better day for the paying public since it is not a work day.
An Ohio dealer l know said he saw a neighboring dealer sell an engine to a "public" for $10....(probably not a "Big Boy").
I was the first ever public member through the door! It was $14 compared to the renewal of $50 plus the $20 entrance fee. I couldn't be there all day so it worked for me. My son was very paranoid because people kept pointing at us. Lol. There really were a lot of people pointing and whispering! I only saw about 30 people with wristbands.
OGR's Jim Barrett had a wonderful conversation with a "public" father and son about building a layout. They had already purchased some Ross Custom Switches and we're seeking advice about how to bring their ideas to the train table.
Good sign...
I find it very amusing how we are referring to these fine folks as "the public" like they are some alien species. Come on guys!
Last year I went in October with a guest entry, and TCA hooked me for life! This strategy works for sure!
My wife went to Catholic school. I was a Public.....LOL
Every vendor I spoke with was very positive about the turnout and volume of sales. I didn't see many green wristbands on Friday.
Most venders I spoke with were selling their products. Traffic was a little bit busier than last April for the Friday morning.
I saw one person with the green band and my friend saw 3. Judging by the cars in the parking lot attendance seemed to be good but I agree a lot of elbow room in the halls.
I parked my car and there were two friends from the local N SCALE (!!!) club ready to walk the halls as the public. When I saw them again later in the day, it appears they put a significant dent in Scenic Express and other dealer's booths.
Attendance seemed heaver than in past springs. I wasn't in much of a buying mood but I head lots of positive comments from sellers.
Maxrailroad posted:I find it very amusing how we are referring to these fine folks as "the public" like they are some alien species. Come on guys!
You would prefer "Non-members"? Is "public" now on the "political correctness" list?
Joe Hohmann posted:Maxrailroad posted:I find it very amusing how we are referring to these fine folks as "the public" like they are some alien species. Come on guys!
You would prefer "Non-members"? Is "public" now on the "political correctness" list?
Yes, from this point forward, let's just refer to them as "The Great Unwashed Masses."
Oh.
Wait.
That might not help narrow it down... 
Steven J. Serenska
From the reports provided to me by a correspondent at York; public attendance was sparse. My solution to changing this would be to break York into two separate events and advertise it as such; one called the York ED/TCA Train Meet (as usual ) and the other called the York Gala Train Show. This would provide greater definition to the event, simplify the confusing admission rules and perhaps make it more profitable. The final attendance numbers should tell the story but they are no longer being released.
Well, if the public/non TCA members don't know about it, how can they show up???? Like I've said in the past, this was set up to fail from the get go. The Eastern division did NOTHING to get the word out. It was to humor the vendors/manufacturers who need to justify their expense going to this show and the lack of foot traffic on Saturdays. Now Eastern division can say, see we tried and it didn't work.
Dennis LaGrua posted:From the reports provided to me by a correspondent at York; public attendance was sparse. My solution to changing this would be to break York into two separate events and advertise it as such; one called the York ED/TCA Train Meet (as usual ) and the other called the York Gala Train Show. This would provide greater definition to the event, simplify the confusing admission rules and perhaps make it more profitable. The final attendance numbers should tell the story but they are no longer being released.
Actually, there is already a "second York show". It's called the Greenberg Train Show, which is held in the Utz building (Orange Hall) every January. It's well advertised, well attended (I've been to 3), and offers the public lots of trains and products all scales. No, Lionel and MTH do not attend, but that is their call.
superwarp1 posted:Well, if the public/non TCA members don't know about it, how can they show up???? Like I've said in the past, this was set up to fail from the get go. The Eastern division did NOTHING to get the word out. It was to humor the vendors/manufacturers who need to justify their expense going to this show and the lack of foot traffic on Saturdays. Now Eastern division can say, see we tried and it didn't work.
This event WAS advertised in a few markets by Eastern Division and by a couple of the manufacturers. Having said that, you have to crawl before you can walk, I can't imagine the Eastern Division had any intention of having 5-10,000 new people show up. I would think they would rather have fewer people go home with a positive experience than to have throngs of people that wait in long lines or some other unpleasant thing go home and report such. I suspect they will review what went right and what went wrong, make adjustments and probably advertise heavier for the fall meet. I would even think that they may wait to all out advertise until the 2018 dates. My $0.02.
Steve
Joe Hohmann posted:Dennis LaGrua posted:From the reports provided to me by a correspondent at York; public attendance was sparse. My solution to changing this would be to break York into two separate events and advertise it as such; one called the York ED/TCA Train Meet (as usual ) and the other called the York Gala Train Show. This would provide greater definition to the event, simplify the confusing admission rules and perhaps make it more profitable. The final attendance numbers should tell the story but they are no longer being released.
Actually, there is already a "second York show". It's called the Greenberg Train Show, which is held in the Utz building (Orange Hall) every January. It's well advertised, well attended (I've been to 3), and offers the public lots of trains and products all scales. No, Lionel and MTH do not attend, but that is their call.
Bingo - How many "general purpose" train shows can one venue support?
TCA runs a collector's meet, Greenberg runs a public show.
If there was truly support/demand for a second public show somebody would have noticed by now.....
