my thoughts
As far as charging admission, it all depends on what the show offers. Perhaps quality of the show should be reflected in the admission price as well.
There was one time that me and my wife went to a show at a hotel down here in TX. We couldn't really see inside at the entrance, so we payed like $5.00 only to find a show containing about 10 tables, and not all of them had animals! Yes, that was too much for that experience!
The Houston shows in Tx always rule. Always clean, well organized, nice variety, and CB only. The Dallas shows ( Arlington mostly ) were a bit of a problem and as far as those shows are concerned, the only one I will ever go to is the ones run by Carl from Carl's Creepy Crawlies. The first one he had had all CB animals and was very clean, carpeted, and the breeders represented their animals well.
The nice shows here in Tx are around $5 or $6 admission.
The Daytona shows, for us, have been very enjoyable. Not only am I in snake heaven there from the worldwide variety of breeders there, but it is clean and CB. The price to get in was either $15 or $20 this past year ( 2002 ) and $20 in 2000 and 2001. That admission covered both days. That is a good deal!
The subject of security at shows has been on my mind. Do they have people that do just that at shows in other cities? Maybe even having them wear a SECURITY shirt. Perhaps that would deter some thefts? I have a good buddy that has had to deal with people trying to take things off his table, and pulling some sort of switch-a-roo trick with handing them money. If there is maybe one security guy on each side of the show ( if it is a big show ), that would help when things start to happen.
OR....making sure there are people to check animals at the exit door, complete with a sticker for proof of purchase. Some shows here have that, but do all?
Food.....down here at the local shows , that really doesn't matter to us. In Daytona though, the food court was nice and set aside from the show. It was typical stadium food. Sharing pretzyls ( ? ) with my wife just to get through the day and drinking hotter than freak coffee as I look upon my newly found pituophis additions to my family, somehow that feels great! At times like that, life is good.
If it were up to me, I prefer CB only shows. There may be some that get away with it at these shows I like, but nevertheless, to me, having CB is best. It really is a disservice to fellow breeders when some guy trucks in a batch of tick and mite infested wild caughts or infested cb's, and puts other people's animals in jeopardy. One breeder that I have done business with was at a local show and put his hand down on a table. He felt something, looked at his hand, and it was COVERED with mites! Yes, he packed up his animals and left.
Not letting people off the street to come in and sell their animals is a good idea. Allowing it is very rude to the breeders that made your show to begin with.
Carpeting would be preferred, as it tends to wear the feet down if it was concrete. Heck, the certain shows I don't go to anymore here, the hotel ballroom floor the show was in was covered in a clear plastic tarp. I felt like I was walking in sand or 3 feet of snow, with the plastic all around my ankles.
Proper advertising should be a big goal and reason for success at the shows. You can't control people's buying impulsed, but the more people that know about the show, the more potential there is for money to be made on both sides, thus everyone is happy.
My idea for a perfect show would have only pituophis and alterna, and 500 tables of just that!
Take care!
Billy Fraser
