Is the Tail Wagging the Dog at Hershey

[Restorer32]

In about 1972 we were made to remove a sign we'd placed on our camper advertising a 1964 XKE engine we were trying to sell. Of course it was possible to enforce such rules when the flea market was only several hundred spaces and lawyers were not so quick to jump on any perceived legal transgression. I don't know the solution but I do know I'll be back next year if at all possible.

[Restorer32]

What would be wrong with my idea of moving the corral to the golf course? I'd rather see a bunch of "for sale" cars deal with the dust/mud than the show cars.

[Steve Moskowitz]

Jeff, I am not a decision maker on this but moving the corral to the golf course does NOT fix the problem. The show cars would not fit on the entrance road. Then, you could not move the flea market to the entrance road either due to space requirements and fire lanes.

If the town had let HERCO pave more of the golf course we would not have a discussion now. Local citizens protested the additional paaved space and the cutting down of the trees which altered the original plan. Next time you are here count the number of new trees planted! This includes the new trees by the stadium which were also mandated. I bet no one can come within 100 of the number of trees that were planted!

The show is a very high priority for the club, maybe even the highest. However, AACA members putting their cars on grass for 4 days and the constant driving in an out is a bit of a problem as we found out last year.

The key is not to hurt ANYONE as many people find value in the flea market, corral and show! It is the wide breadth of things to see and do that make Hershey so great. I think if we were all realistic we would find complaints from every single year of the show. If it was not the traffic it was the mud. That being said, solutions have to be found that work for everyone. I asked HERCO if they could double deck the parking lot but for some reason it was met with stone silence!

[Dave@Moon]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If you are seriously suggesting that the flea market be limited to only those "who are an asset to the enterprise because of their offered material goods and services" you will see the flea market shrink to maybe 1/3 or less of its current size and attendance will fall dramatically, in my opinion. Hershey is no longer simply a flea market. It has become an enormous "family reunion" with an ever larger family to cope with. </div></div>

One man's reunion is another man's cancer. You don't have to live at the mall to meet your friends <span style="font-style: italic">there</span> either.

Meanwhile....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Yes every year there are more applicants than spaces available. </div></div>

And what "special" lots get allocated to the new applicants? Many years it's a good idea to bring scuba gear.

<span style="font-style: italic">(A good first-timer Hershey tip is to shop the fringe areas first where the new vendors are. They tend to be more serious about selling than some of the veteran "vendors", especially as the swap meet goes on and Friday comes around. My best purchases were usually made from dissappointed first time vendors stuck in the Yellow Field just trying to unload their stuff and go home.)</span>

Turning the flea market into a party zone might sound like fun, but who's going to be filling those spaces after the partiers are gone? New people can't get tables at this party. And if a good proportion of the people wandering around the party aren't there to buy stuff...well that shouldn't be a surprise then, should it?

As I said, this is all about being rude. Either the party goers are being rude to the shoppers by making their task more difficult and less fruitful, or (if we've really put the cart before the horse completely) the shoppers are being rude interrupting the party.

No ones advocating a ban on fraternalization among ourselves. Everyone socializes at Hershey. We all do. It'd be folly not to. You can do it all day without renting a square inch. But it's a downright waste to <span style="text-decoration: underline">just</span> use Hershey real estate to socialize, and d@mn rude to interfere with others doing something constructive there.

[MCHinson]

There are a lot of thoughts and we will certainly not all agree. However I did think of one thing, that while not THE solution, might be part of the solution.

Steve do you know if HERCO has given any thought to Pervious paving? This might be the perfect solution to the grass vs asphalt debate while also preventing most or all of the problems caused by more acres of traditional asphalt.

Here is one link that tells a little about this.

http://www.duluthstreams.org/stormwater/toolkit/paving.html

I know that in our town, this is the approach that has been taken for outlying areas that are used infrequently for parking.

[Guest windjamer]

With all the trouble I got in on the outher thread I dont know if I dare comment, but here gos. This year across from me we lost the MBNA trl. and race cars.There where at least 5 spots emty untill thursday.Thursday a VA. pick-m-up w/ a small trl. pulled in.He unloaded some handy cap scooters and a small amount of coke and auto memorabilea. Had a trl. full of oak weaved squar tops. I tryed my best to think what they where, thought maby tops for a model t or outher smll early wood body car, but to small. Fri. I could handle it no more. I ask him what the ---- he was selling. Turns out they where baskets for hauling tobaco out of the field in early days. I dont know the price, but he sold a lot of them and had lot of people looking.

[1937hd45]

So are you happy the MBNA is gone and you now have a vendor, or do you want MBNA back? Were your sales affected at all by what was across the isle?

[Wowabunga]

""Please define "legitimate vendor"."" Hey Restorer32 that sure was a fine post with about every base covered.

The term "tradeshow" fits. I like variation. Now if you find a guy demonstrating magic patented glass cutters imported directlty from England you need to just hold onto your money. He got $10 of mine and a week later I saw them at Ollies Outlets for $2 a pop.

And finally I know one day I'll have to eat my words... but here it goes anyway... a real vendor sleeps in the back of their truck...!!!!! LOL...!

[mrpushbutton]

There is a guy there every year with a newer (but not really new) car, the hood removed and a tent over the front half of the car. He wears an amplifer-headset and gives a snake-oil spiel about this electronic box he is selling that will triple your mileage from your car. He had a lot of peope standing around listening to his huckster presentation about this box. So now I'm thinking, Hmmmmm, I'm from Detroit, I work for one of the three remaining, struggling car companies, and we have thousands of highly educated engineers working in absolute state-of-the-art labs and engineering facilities, gee, if this idea really worked wouldn't one of the three figure it out first and get the marketing edge on our competition, or is this gizmo sitting on a shelf in a crib along side the 100 mpg carburetor?

And if this box works so well and sells, why can't he afford something better than a Mark VIII? (or Monte Carlo, or '92 ElDorado............)

I'd like to see a pile of rusty parts on a blue tarp in <span style="font-weight: bold">that</span> spot!

[Guest windjamer]

37hd, this is only my opinon, I like the race cars gave the spectators something else to look at,BUT the only reason they where there was so they could sucker some one in to signing up for there stupid credit card. It didnt change things a bit for me, but I think I like the tobacco trays and a few auto items best. Ramblin Randy I guess im a vendor. I sleep in the back of my truck. I have a gas stove and a gas gridle I cary a gas generator and a elect. coffee pot.I sit them up on the tail gate, and fix pancakes bacon and eggs most every morning. You would be amasied at all the LOVELY ladys that ofer to have brekfast with me.

[Restorer32]

Some folks with multiple spaces who pre-register need all of those spaces but not every year. Why not make it legal and above board to rent those excess spaces to needy vendors on a year by year basis? This should be done thru the region so as to eliminate price gouging for spaces as used to be the situation at that show in Carlisle (I forget the name). Just another idea that might be considered.

[ex98thdrill]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What would be wrong with my idea of moving the corral to the golf course?</div></div> What would be wrong is that if you moved the car coral to the golf course, you'd have even less room than you have now. You still wouldn't solve the problem of having the cars on the grass.

In either case, if you don't improve trailer parking, you're still getting all of that mud and crap on the showcars worse than you are with the show at the golf course.