This was the second largest fest in the MD, PA, VA, DE, NJ area behind Gaithersburg (FARFest). Now both of those fests are essentially gone. I don't know the costs for Timonium, but I would imagine that the rent on the fairgrounds is rather large. Increasing rent is what killed the FARFest. Montgomery county made a huge increase in the rental cost of the county fairground. FAR couldn't afforded it and move to Bowie, MD. That move broke the momentum and spelled the end of a once great fest. The last year the FARfest was held at Gaitherburg (1998, IIRC), the attendance exceed 10,000. FARfest was a one day fest, so 10k is big.
now THAT was a fester! How well I remember it even though the last one was 16 years ago. FARFest and Hosstraders were consistently the best hamfests/flea markets there were. We modeled NEAR-Fest on them and try our best to recapture the spirit of both these events but the times in which we live make it impossible because the "good stuff" just isn't there in the quantities and prices that were prevalent in the time that those hamfests were active. We will never see those days again and were damned lucky we experienced them back in the day.
73,
MrMike
