Jim, good luck, as you know AND contributed for years, either by being a vendor or purchaser to our Great Lakes Show (Battle Creek, MI), that we had for 5 years (2009-2013). We had heard many great things about the show but yet, attendance lacked year after year. We started with 57 attendees and the last year we have only 27. There was a drop every year.

We have had a great location in Michigan, just off I-94 and 7 miles from Firekeppers casino. I drove 2 1/2 hours west to put this show on, and it is about 2 hours east of Chicago. We had people that came from great distance like New York, Virgina, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, NE Ontario and these few people came year after year to support the show and ENJOY the camaraderie of other collectors.

The show was very reasonable to attend and for vendors. 20 vendors the 1st year & 24 all the rest. Vendors paid $30 for an 8' table and 1 person won (by raffle their money back), Attendees paid $5 to get in, children free and received a commemorative chip and a raffle ticket for hourly raffles.

Comfort Inn room rates were $80, included free breakfast in the morning, good food, hotel nice, I been in much worse, but when you got us all together, we had a GREAT TIME.

Seemed that people had no issues driving great distance but only few that were 1-3 hours away would show up. I had a several people in the Chicago area ask me "Why don't I do the show in Chicago?" I explained the cost of the show & difficulty finding a location in an area I know nothing of was a major issue, some told me they would never drive 2 hours to support a show, they would drive no more than a 1/2 hour. One said it was cheaper for him to buy off Ebay than to go to our show. NOW, this was not all the Chicago people, just some. I have some great Chicago area friends that came EVERY YEAR and LOVED the show and great treasures they had found year after year!!!

Our Vendors were really collectors that were just selling things. Sell did I say? We also bought & traded right at the tables, NO one was offended. We did have 2 Dealers that are really collectors at heart and also loved the the shows ambiance.

We also sold water, pop, chips & snacks there for 50c each. Dealers, if they wanted, got Jets subs delivered with a pop/water, chips/cookie & tip for $10.

We bent over backwards to create the best show east of the Great Mississippi River and could not get enough collectors through the door.

We specifically had it a time of year (we thought) that would not interfere with the Las Vegas Convention. Last weekend of October, no snow in Southern Michigan yet, sometime beautiful blue skies & tree color changing but some days gloomy.

If we could figure out how to get collectors to support activities like this, I would be HAPPY to do another Great Lakes Show.

Albert