Harrisburg Outdoor Show

[leeb]

I am broken hearted. I am going to be in Harrisburg, PA for work when the Eastern Sport show was supposed to take place. With all the turmoil with guns in the news and several boycotts they have canceled the show.

www.easternsportshow.com/

I think the real reason is because the heard Bigjon and Asleepafloat made up.

[2 oars & a trash can]

Jan 25, 2013 21:55:57 GMT -5 leeb said:

I am broken hearted. because Bigjon and Asleepafloat made up.

Who did what?

[leeb]

They canceled the show over the gun debate and political situation surrounding it.

I still do not understand why they would want to cancel the show....that is like letting the opposition win by stopping your big party for the year.

That would be like having a terrorist attack on the 4th of July so we decide we are not going to celebrate our Independence. It just does not add up for me.

[bigjon]

The folks that put the show on made a decision to not allow their vendors to have anything pertaining to "black" guns at the show. They jumped up with this decision very recently after most vendors had already booked tables and paid deposits.

They had about 1000 vendors scheduled to be there, it's the largest show in the US and has been going on for years.

When the word got out a lot of vendors (over 200) decided to cancel their booths. Some because "black" guns are the bulk of their business and some because they felt the shows sponsor caved to pressure.

One table at the show was about $1500.00 and most vendors had more than one table reserved.

The sponsor said they made the decision to keep the show family oriented and due to the recent craze on "black" guns and ammo, they felt "black" gun business would dominate the show.

I read a lot of comments from the dealers that backed out. Some did so because most of their business was "black" guns and they didn't want to spend so much for a booth, travel, motel and food to not be able to sell their products. Some claimed this show was 1/3 of their yearly business.

A lot of the "boycotts" were vendors backing out because it didn't make sense from a financial standpoint. The rest did it because of their beliefs and feeling that they didn't want to pad the pockets of the sponsor who they felt had folded to pressure and they felt the crowd would be much less due to this.

The bottom line is for whatever reason the sponsor made a decision which they were free to do. The vendors then made a decision which they were free to do. The show was cancelled because the sponsor quickly lost over 20% of the vendors who had reserved and paid deposits on tables. I might add the 20% had not settled down when they cancelled, the number was growing fast. It was a financial decision on their part, these sponsors don't put on shows for us, they put on shows to make a buck, perfectly understandable there.

It's sad that so much revenue for the area was lost, I'm sure motels were booked for miles, eating joints enjoy a huge boost, gas stations etc........

Whichever side you are on this is a crucial time and if you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything.

For the record I didn't realize Asleepafloat and I needed to make up. I'll give it to Dave, here he is for sure the minority (at least out of those with nads to speak up). We have verbally beat him up pretty bad BUT he stands by what he believes, I admire him for that even though we may disagree on a lot of issues. We all share a love for fishing, that's why the site is here. If there were those trying to stop fishing on Smith Mt. we would all stand arm to arm no matter what our differences are to do what we could to fight it. These rights of free speech are what our forefathers fought for.

Someone help me off this soap box, I've had way too much water!

[leeb]

I just do not understand why the people who put on the show thought that it would be a great idea to give in to people who would not even come to the show because they are so opposed to any gun and shun the people who have been coming to the show for years with out having an incident at the show.

I'm just throwing the pokie stick at you guys... it can be hard to tell when someone is just messing with you when we are typing. when we are face to face you can tell I am just picking.

[bigjon]

Heck I always assume you are just picking, if not you will need to smack me real good to get my attention! ;D

I don't understand either leeb and apparently over 200 vendors don't either.

[Deleted]

Bigjon, agree 100% with your post above. Got to respect a man for standing tall in his beliefs. Just didn't want to say it in public, afraid it would make him more hard headed than he already is. ;)Besides, who knows, maybe one of these days we may be able to convert him over to redneckism. ;D

[leeb]

Those vendors should have gone back after the show was canceled and tried to get a really great deal on the vacant facilities to have a show of their own.

[striperjohn]

Some good news on this cancellation. Reed Expo is the organization that puts it on. They caved to the liberal hysteria, however, this show alone is gonna lose them 80M, yes 80 million dollars.
Plus show they run in Nevada, Iowa, two in Montana,and two more in Tennessee were cancelled by the hosts. They're now dealing with other organizations to put the shows on from now on.
According to the article I read in Forbes total loss to Reed thus far is in excess of 120 million dollars! ;D