Would you attend a yearly herp show in Minneapolis?

I'm sure the lack of advertising was the problem for the Mankato show. Hopefully something has been learned from it, as it was a nice facility and setup.

I have no idea, does anyone have an approximate dollar amount to rent a suitab;e venue?

The only ads for the 'Kato show I ever saw were links to the internet on other forums. Nothing in town that I know of.

I wonder if we could work in conjunction with the Herp society at the U of M? And how about getting the word out to the herp societies of Wisc, IA, Neb. - the ones that host their own shows. I'll bet a few people would come.

At the Midwest herp society show last year - we had a nice crowd. I think it could be duplicated.

Originally Posted by Cat_72

I'm sure the lack of advertising was the problem for the Mankato show. Hopefully something has been learned from it, as it was a nice facility and setup.

I have no idea, does anyone have an approximate dollar amount to rent a suitab;e venue?

Maybe one of the "locals" could give us a hand in finding out how much a suitable hotel would cost. I would probably even start with the Thunderbird motel on 494. At least we know that one hosted a reptile show in their facilities a year ago.

Regards.

Originally Posted by Monte

The only ads for the 'Kato show I ever saw were links to the internet on other forums. Nothing in town that I know of.

I wonder if we could work in conjunction with the Herp society at the U of M? And how about getting the word out to the herp societies of Wisc, IA, Neb. - the ones that host their own shows. I'll bet a few people would come.

At the Midwest herp society show last year - we had a nice crowd. I think it could be duplicated.

That's an excellent idea Monte. I'm not sure if Mark's a member of the Herpetological Society and if he is still reading this thread. Years ago they use to meet monthly at the U of M. I'm not sure if they are still doing it or not.

Regards.

The MN herp society meets every first Friday of the month, 12 months a year. They meet at Borlaug Hall at the U of MN St. Paul campus...7-10pm. The question of hosting a yearly Fall show has been brought up MANY times before them, but nobody seems to want to carry the ball. They are busy doing the RenFest every weekend from mid August till the first part of October. They DO host the Midwest Symposium that travels around to the various herp societies in the upper midwest. That was last year (2005)...the next time the symposium rolls around to MN again will be in 2012 or so. If we want a yearly show here in Minneapolis, then someone HERE on this forum with the spare time, knowhow, contacts, and experience will have to put it together because the MN herp society won't do it. Believe me, if I had the spare time, I'd do it...but taking care of my critters AND working 55 hour weeks at NIGHT takes it toll.

I'm not sure how much a banquet room would rent for. In talking with Jodi Aherns (who coordinated the 05 MN show), the Thunderbird Hotel in Bloomington charged the society an arm and a leg for the electrical hookups. No, I don't have the exact figures. The only way to find out would be to call some hotels and ask them...first off, would they allow a reptile show on their premises, and secondly...how much for a banquet room?

Anybody want to pick up the torch and run with it? I swear, all I hear is talk, talk, talk. At least Larry DID something about it. I thought his Mankato show was pretty good for a first time, rush job with very little advertising. I'd be more than happy to vend in Mankato again if he choses to put on another show. I just MIGHT get a bug up my a$$ come Febuary and try my hand at putting something together here in Mpls. At least I'll have some vacation time then to do all the running around. We'll see.....

Scott Nellis

Scott, I agree that Larry did a good job for a first-time show, and I too would be back again if he had another. And yeah, there's a lot of "talk" here, but we're trying to see just how much we can learn about just what we'd be getting ourselves into BEFORE taking it on....I don't know that we really have anyone that has all of the spare time, experience, knowhow, and contacts all together, or we probably would have done something by now. I'd like to hope that if we get a few folks together, that have part of this equation each, we could do something good and get something rolling!

I'd love to attend the MHS meetings, but I too work long hours at night, so the 2 hour drive up there and back just isn't feasible for me. Do you think they would at least lend some support if we were to get things going?

Anybody want to pick up the torch and run with it? I swear, all I hear is talk, talk, talk.

Scott,

The problem is that most of us also work all week. At least we want to discuss the possibility. Several of us here have manifested the willingness to help, the problem is that some don't even live in MN...

Regards.

Dan I'm not a member of the Minnesota herp society. I will start checking up here with costs on hotels etc... That is if people are willing to drive up this way from the cities. I am more than willing to take the ball up here and run. I'll email Scott for contact info on the people who run shows. Start thinking about dates you want including the fall or late winter (Larry had talked about doing one every fall and I don't want to step on his toes).

I believe Larry's plans were to try to do one in the spring and the fall....but I haven't really spoken to him since the Mankato show.

Mark, my offer stands as well of anything I can do to help. I obviously can't do the runing from place to place up there at this time, but emailing, phone calling, etc....or whatever else you can think of that I can do from lowly Iowa.

Originally Posted by Cat_72

I believe Larry's plans were to try to do one in the spring and the fall....but I haven't really spoken to him since the Mankato show.

Mark, my offer stands as well of anything I can do to help. I obviously can't do the runing from place to place up there at this time, but emailing, phone calling, etc....or whatever else you can think of that I can do from lowly Iowa.

Same here. Anything I can do over the phone count me in. I agree that checking with Larry to see if he has something already in the works is a good idea. If he doesn't we can go ahead and bounce around some potential dates and start making phone calls. The first place I would call it would be the Thunderbird motel. At least we should have that as a reference price as we know they have accepted a show in the past. It's also a convenient location.

Regards.