On 2/1/2014 8:50 AM, Doug Miller wrote:
Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in
:

On 2/1/2014 12:18 AM, Gramps' shop wrote:

http://www.thewoodworkingshows.com/webapp-shows/Atlanta

Has that show been better lately? I know that the show has under new
ownership in the last couple of years.

Emphatically YES it has improved.

There were many more vendors and attendees at the Indianapolis show this year than at
any time since about 2008. I had noticed declining attendance and vendor participation for
several years, and feared that the show might be on its way to extinction. It's still not back to
where it was ten years ago -- in particular, Incra and Leigh used to be there every year, and
I haven't seen either one for a long time, and several of our local businesses that used to
exhibit regularly haven't been around for a while either -- but it has rebounded a lot
compared to the last couple of years.

I commented on that to one of the vendors that I've become acquainted with over the past 6-
8 years and suggested that perhaps it was a sign that the economy was improving. He
attributes it instead to the new ownership, saying that the previous owner had [ticked] off a
lot of vendors and the new owner was working hard to mend fences.

Another difference I noticed this year is that the three-hour-long classes (the ones you have
to pay for) are back, after an absence of at least three or four years. There were at least two
taught by Marc Adams at this year's show.

The show has definitely grown quite a bit, compared to the last few years. Still not back to
where it was 12-15 years ago, but much better than 2-4 years ago.

For comparison purposes -- map of Indiana State Fairgrounds he
http://www.in.gov/statefair/fairgrou...ndsMap2013.pdf

The Woodworking Show *used to* fill the South Pavilion (#18 on the map). Somewhere
around 2006, it had shrunk enough that it was moved to the Blue Ribbon Pavilion (#14)
where it remains. Three years ago, it occupied only about 2/3 of that building, and in '12 and
'13 it seemed like just a bit over half the building was used. This year, it wasn't quite full, but
it was close. And on Saturday in particular, there were so many people there that it was hard
to get around -- which was *very* different from last year.



GOOD TO HEAR! Thank you for that report.

In Houston the show was always at Reliant Center, held in a rather large
section in one of the areas. That was true for years.

About 4~5 years they moved the show from that central location to about
20 miles WNW to the high school gymnasium in Katy, TX. The room for all
of the vendors was scaled down to about 20% of what they had at the
Reliant Center. Vendors were ****ed and so was I, parking had to be
shared with all of the high schoolers. I complained the first year to
the organizers, a few women, and I was instructed that I was wrong.

The new owners of the Woodworking shows contacted me and informed me of
their acquisition and further indicated that the vendors were ****ed.

AAMOF we did not even have that show last year, one of the gracious area
woodworkers organized and held the show himself. He did that just so
that there would be a show last year and indicated he would never do
that again. He donated a lot of his equipment for the demonstrations.

Fortunately it looks like the Woodworking shows will be back,
unfortunately the show will be in the gymnasium again. Hopefully it
will one day return to the Reliant Center. The Reliant Center is a long
way from where I live, actually the Katy gymnasium is quite close, but I
believe the show would be better if there was more room for the vendors
to spread out and room for more vendors.