New Show in Minnesota!

There are 2 pet store owners I know of that specialize in reptiles in the Twin Cities. Twin Cities Reptile and Leapin Lizards. I don't see Bruce or Jill having problems with a show. Bruce has vended at Des Moines and Chicago NARBC and Jill has shown up as a buyer at Chicago. If that was such a problem(competition), wouldn't shows like Kansas City, Omaha and Des Moines have problems? They put on some nice shows annually.

I'm available to help out. My only condition is that a show would NOT be held during the STATE FAIR run! There wouldn't be any traffic! It's all at the fair or the Renaissance Festival (at which the Mn Herp Society displays and chats about responsible reptile ownership).

Mark (Otter) has my phone number. I'm more than willing to check out sites, get quotes, etc.

Originally Posted by kare

There are 2 pet store owners I know of that specialize in reptiles in the Twin Cities. Twin Cities Reptile and Leapin Lizards. I don't see Bruce or Jill having problems with a show. Bruce has vended at Des Moines and Chicago NARBC and Jill has shown up as a buyer at Chicago. If that was such a problem(competition), wouldn't shows like Kansas City, Omaha and Des Moines have problems? They put on some nice shows annually.

I'm available to help out. My only condition is that a show would NOT be held during the STATE FAIR run! There wouldn't be any traffic! It's all at the fair or the Renaissance Festival (at which the Mn Herp Society displays and chats about responsible reptile ownership).

Mark (Otter) has my phone number. I'm more than willing to check out sites, get quotes, etc.

Karen,

Thanks for your willingness to give a hand; it's greatly appreciated. With Mark W. we have even discussed the possibility of financing the costs for the show from our own pockets. Last time we started with the discussion in this same thread we got stuck because of different ideas with "potential dates". Although not a minor thing, let's try to avoid going down that route until we polish up some other important details first (money and location).

Merry Christmas!

There are 2 pet store owners I know of that specialize in reptiles in the Twin Cities. Twin Cities Reptile and Leapin Lizards. I don't see Bruce or Jill having problems with a show.

Have you actually spoken to them about it?

I'm available to help out. My only condition is that a show would NOT be held during the STATE FAIR run! There wouldn't be any traffic! It's all at the fair or the Renaissance Festival

I agree with the state fair, but the Renaissance festival runs from the middle of August to the end of September, a span of about 7 weekends. Thats a lot of prime time to say NO to. I really don't think there would be a problem running a show while the Ren Fest was going on.

Dan was going to talk with Bruce about a show. I have talked to Larry several times (he did the show in Mankato) and I don't see him having a problem with a show. I don't know who runs the other store in the cities. We had found a place in St. Cloud that is relatively cheap for the day to rent with nice size conference rooms but the cost was more than we could absorb last year. Why St. Cloud? More centrally located in Minnesota and it isn't to far for people from North Dakota, South Dakota and Northern Minnesota or Michigan, plus in the fall we have tons of traffic running from the cities to the lakes up north. I do think with good advertising it could work in both the cities and St. Cloud, but I think it is going to take a few shows to get the word out and the numbers up. My biggest goal for having shows is to introduce it to more uneducated people (what I mean is people who aren't very aware of reptiles and the possibilities there are). I think with more exposure we could have a larger customer base like they do in Wisconsin, Ohio etc... With no real reptile specialty stores north of the cities it would create more exposure this way and this part of Minnesota has really been growing the last few years.

Which brings me to a few other points. It would be nice to have a Minnesota herp chapter up this way, it is a long drive to attend meetings in the cities for some of us. Also I am going to be working with people at the Little Falls zoo to put in a small reptile center to begin with. If you have any interest in either of these ventures you can shoot me an email. mwesty@charter.net

I did e-mail Bruce a couple of days ago but with the Holidays and everything I don't expect to hear from him this week. I'll call him to the store after the 1st. I like the idea of St. Cloud, particularly when there have been some inquiries done already and it doesn't seem impossible.

Merry Christmas.

I think St Cloud is a very good idea. There are a number of herp soc members that live up that way and it's really not that far to go for a show. You also may wish to talk to Dr Janell Osborne, she runs the St Cloud Animal Hospital and has a lot of experience working with Herps. I used to take my animals to her before she moved to St Cloud. She would probably be more plugged into the herping community in that area.

As far as being a chapter of the MN herp society, wouldn't it just be easier to start your own herp society? If you want to get some advice from some of the original founding members on how to go about doing something like that I could look up some E-mail addresses for you if you like. Or I also already published that link to the web page for the current officers that has all of their E-mail addresses on it as well if you want to ask about becoming a chapter.

Mark

As far as being a chapter of the MN herp society, wouldn't it just be easier to start your own herp society?

How does that work?

Thanks

"Have you actually spoken to them about it? "

Not specifics(as there were none to speak of; dates, venues, etc.). But I have chatted to them about it in the past. Don't give the pet store owners the onus of being uncooperative. An annual show can boost their recognition, too.

Mark W., I'm all for St. Cloud. I think we can get many people interested in pet reptiles there. Of course, many will have to go to the pet stores for their supplies....cages, uth, lights, crickets, mealworms, rats, mice, etc. and boost the peripheral sales (where the stores actually make money) throughout the year.

As to the dates of the show; my point was there is too much going on during the State Fair time. RenFest included. Not that we shouldn't have it at all during the RenFest time line. Sorry if that was confusing, I should have reread it to be sure I got my thoughts across accurately.

How does that work?

I don't know, I've never tried it. But many of the original founding members of the MN herp society are still active members, they may be able to give some pointers.

Mark,

Any suggestion as of who should I get in touch with?

Thanks