The AM Forum

What a bummer, I attended my first Butler hamfester last spring and it was pretty good, compared to most festers these days.  Didn't know it was happening and went to Findlay, Ohio hamfester instead. Sure wish I knew Butler was on the same day, would have gone there instead of Findlay.

With the money they take in on admission, maybe they could pay their "volunteers" or pay someone else to keep it going. Seems to me in a few short years there won't be many hamfests left at all.   

You could go here to keep track of all the hamfests:
http://www.arrl.org/hamfests.html

Breeze Shooters Hamfest in June, held at the same location as the Butler ARC hamfest, is not affected by this action.

You said, "maybe they could pay their "volunteers" or pay someone else to keep it going". The point of the hamfest was to generate revenue for the club. Paying their club members or someone else to do the job defeats the whole purpose of having the hamfest generate revenue for the club. Dealers/vendors, especially indoor ones, need to know there will be support when they come to a hamfest to display their wares. Indoor dealer/vendors are a cash cow for hamfests. You keep them happy in all ways (the volunteer support, advertising, etc.) and they will continue to return. They generally are the ones who also supply, either free, or at great discount, all the door prizes. A hamfest has to sell a lot of $5 grass vendor space to make up for several inside or commercial vendors deciding not to participate. That's why a lot of hamfests are suffering today due to the lack of support for the inside and/or commercial vendors. Several hamfests in the Northeast are well known for lots of "tire-kicking" buyers which generally turns off most commercial and "regular" vendors which results in them not showing up the following year.

Also, another big revenue drainer for most hamfests, besides advertising, tickets, food concession, rent of location, etc., is liability insurance that most hamfest organizers have to acquire before they can open a hamfest for business.
The “old days” of hamfests are going in many areas and, most likely, will never return again. There is just too much revenue drain to make the average hamfest a good “bang for the buck” activity for the typical average club.

The Butler Club story:
http://www.w3udx.org/images/Tell-A-Ham/tah_09_061.pdf

Seems a lot af apathy exists among attendees. I remember the Ephrata (PA...pa dutch) hamfest. It was small but very 'warm' for those attending. Dayton being the same or nearby weekends squelching....so they say. The smaller fests (as I remember) yielded better stuff and camaraderie.

So it goes.

Hosstraders just around the corner, anyone going?

Seems to be a common problem with many clubs, large and small, today. No one wants to do any work to make the hamfest successful.

I got two hamfests in PA, one in NJ, and one in CT and then I'm done for the year.

Lock all but 18 of 'em out of the club repeater.
Like they'll even notice.

Seems the promised land of no code and the 2 meter migration to HF has not panned out as planned.
Fewer hams,
No driving sense of purpose.
No respect for fellow club members or our community service of ham radio.
No loyalty to club.
Typical of the easy come, easy go mentality prevalent in about every club, civic organization these days
reinforced by the "me-me" generation mentality.

HDTV and Playstations forever.

It's the ARRL's fault.