Hershey was NOT a washout!

[Mark Shaw]

My first Hershey experience was not a good one. We arrived Wednesday evening.

Being from the Northwest, I was disappointed to find so many vendors closed up on Thursday morning with just a light drizzle.

Too much walking for too few open vendors... and too far to travel for questionable weather in the Fall.

I doubt I will come back for some time....

[GLong]

It is sad that so many vendors and buyers gave up.. What has happened to the 'tough it out' buyers and sellers?? It used to be that about 20% of the sellers slept in the back of their pickup trucks, maybe another 40% had a pickup camper or a motorhome, the balance went to hotels. And EVERYONE brought rainsuits and waterproof boots and mud-traction boots. We toughed it out' when the weather got bad.

I was caught at least partially unprepared. The weather forecasts for the week were quite good up until late Tuesday, then the rain was in the forecast. And the rain was heavy.. In years past, many people would look at the vehicles stuck in the mud, and they stay at their spaces and keep selling. With the pavement, everyone just packs and leaves.

We can hope that both vendors and buyers read this thread, and realize that there is plenty of business that can be done in the rain, just stay open and keep shopping, I did very well on Thursday and Friday.

Greg L

Edited October 18, 2013 by GLong (see edit history)

[Guest my3buicks]

I walked around in the deserted flea market on Friday and I have to say, I can't blame one vendor for closing up shop. There is rain and then there is rain, there was no way short of the expensive major tents that would have kept their wares even partially dry. I saw tent after tent that had failed from all the rain. Then they had to go home and dry out everything that had been soaked.

[ChazA]

I attended judges breakfast for first time Sat at meet. I walked in the front door of Giant Center instead of back. The entire center was deserted, both floors. Too bad it can't be opened up for vendors during the show, especially for those with literature, expensive small NOS parts, etc.. Maybe even move the judges breakfast to another area, say the fan seats with a "bag" breakfast, and use the entire Arena floor for vendors.

I attend the largest antique show in the Northeast, Madison-Bouckville. http://www.madison-bouckville.com/index.html with over 2000 vendors.

They put up huge tents for vendors that would withstand storms such as Thurs/Fri. May be tough to do on the pavement, but possibly on grass areas.

Before getting hammered with all the "they do a lot of work putting on show, huge undertaking, too much to change, etc.." comments, I applaud the Hershey staff, just some thoughts/constructive comments from a newbie

Edited October 18, 2013 by ChazA (see edit history)

[R W Burgess]

Not possible.

They had hockey games going on sometime during the week. I watched them Friday covering the ice with insulated panels for our Judge's breakfast, so it must have been used Wednesday or Thursday for the games.

Umm, a little free space on the outside parking lots on Thursday evening, and they could have had ski-ing compertition.

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

I understand your feelings - especially considering how far you had to come. However, there is no place like Hershey - anywhere! Almost every year you will have a wonderful experience. Normally the weather is around 60 degrees and pleasant. Unfortunately, the AACA has not yet developed the power to control the weather each and every year.

I have attended enough markets over the years to tell you that it is far too difficult for a vendor to unpack and then have to pack up again with each burst of sun or rain. Remember, these parts are extremely valuable and it is just not worth it to ruin rare pieces.

If you looked at the radar (which I did all day Thursday on my iPhone), it was an area of rain for about 100 square miles - and only in the Hershey area. I believe the rainfall total were around 8 inches over three days - unbelievable!

Most of us have been coming to Hershey for 20 years or more and the law of averages works out well over time. Sadly, if you don't come back, it will be 100% in the negative for you. Hope you stuck around for the Saturday show - I couldn't, but it was dry and sunny and I believe around 70 degrees.

Well put and Ditto for me.

[Jim Bollman]

Was thinking about the rain. As I said back aways, only the second time in over 40 years that we left earlier than plan. By the way a lot of venders left on Saturday by noon even 40 years ago and on a dry year they leave Friday night or Saturday morning now, not a huge shift considering we set up a day earlier. So why are we less hardy.

Average age of vendors have increased just like AACA membership in general, we just can't take the weather like we use to. On grass we could sit under our canopies in the rain and stay dry, now we can have up to an inch of water running under our canopy so we are sitting in water. Also makes it harder keep stuff dry when it can't be on the ground. Many vendors (not me) have been at Carlisle for a week already and they are just tired out especially if they had rain there. For us we started leaving Saturday afternoon when HerCo made it very clear they wanted us out Saturday night or early Sunday. Don't remember the year but a HerCo person stopped and asked when we were leaving, this was about dark on a Saturday. We said in the morning and they said we should be out by 6AM, then about 4AM cleaning porta-johns and hauling them away started, not a pleasant way to wake up. We can't easily sleep in our camper when loaded so we don't have much of an option when we leave but drive the 6 hours home. Add in a bunch of those that left early that were just camping anyway, no parts or a small card table of junk behind their camper, nothing to see if they leave or not, but the empty spot looks like you missed something.

Now for those that complain that the vendors can't take a little rain, how many go back to their motel room after a few hours of being in the rain and take a hot shower before going out for dinner. Many of the vendors are still sleeping in the back of vans or in small campers, cooking on the site trying to stay warm and dry. As far as only being able to come one day and it rains and people are closed, the vendors took vacation to be there all week.

Sorry for the rant but there are lots of variables.

[john2dameron]

The "Hershey" I'll never forget was my first, 2005. I had retired in 2003 and had been resisting scratching my itch to see Hershey. Finally I decided I was going in 2005. Thursday, the weather forecast for Hershey was rain, rain, rain for Friday. I kept going on line and checking the forecast and debated back and forth whether to go or not. Finally about midnight Thursday I decided, rain or no rain, I was going. Went to bed, got up about 4:00 am and starting loading the car. One thing I packed was a pair of hunting pants that were supposed to be waterproof. It poured the rain all the way up there. I got to the car corral and put the "waterproof" pants on over my walking shorts. It rained and rained and rained and finally about 5:00 I decided to return to the motel. Pulled the "waterproof" pants off and my walking shorts were as wet as the parking lot. This year on the way to Hershey I stopped and purchased a rain suit. It did very well. I don't know which year it rained the most; I only know I got a lot wetter in 2005 but this year I was better prepared but I sure was glad Saturday turned out to be so nice.