CKARS Hamfest In Richmond, KY Saturday Sept. 19th

Sponsored by the Central KY Amateur Radio Society.

Location: Madison County Fairgrounds, Richmond, KY. Hwy 52E (6 miles from I-75 Exit 90)

Time: Saturday, Sept. 19th from 8AM/4PM (EST)

Admission $6.00/Tables $5.00.

Air Conditioned Indoor/Outdoor flea market. Food and refreshments. Door/Cash Prizes. Plenty of parking available. For a list of confirmed vendors, directions or more info visit www.qsl.net/ckars/hamfest/

Talk-In 145.370 (PL 192.8)

See you all there!

Dan, W4XXL
Central KY Amateur Radio Society

 

My wife and I are looking forward to this one. We'll see you there, Dan!!

 

Look forward to meeting you.

 

Displeased with the way this fest was run!



FOUL!

I travelled from eastern PA to go to this hamfest, and feel very cheated that I wasted my time here. While I do have relatives in the area, the fact that this hamfest was being held factored greatly in my decision to take my vacation when I did.

The CKARS hamfest is a small one, but that does not bother me one iota - I have been to lots of small hamfests, and happily get into the spirit of the event - but the CKARS group pulled a stunt that was infuriating and completely inexcusable.

In their advertising, on signs and on their website, they made a commitment to give away a $100 cash prize, at 1300 local time. They made a big deal about saying you have to be present to win. At 1pm. 1300. They advertised this. So, what do these guys do? They see what they think are too many people leaving, and decide to give away the prize at 12:30, without letting everyone know!! (Note to CKARS... for future reference, that is the purpose of the phrase, 'must be present to win' -- to get people to stay.) Many of us were outside in the flea market, and CKARS conveniently did not notify us of this change!

My girlfriend (this was her first hamfest) and I came back into the building at 12:40, so we wouldn't miss the advertised 1pm drawing time. Of course, 1pm came and went. Another ham, who had come from Southern Indiana, and I investigated and found to our great displeaure what had happened. CKARS' excuse was, "Oh, we didn't have a speaker plug out there." I was incredulous. They couldn't have waited 30 minutes to KEEP THEIR END OF THE BARGAIN! Needless to say, there were lots of peed off people.

So, thanks for crapping on us, guys. This was my girlfriend's first hamfest, so she currently has a great impression of the integrity of those who run them. Thank you. No, I don't know if you drew our names, but I don't know that you didn't, either. I am very angry with you guys, because I feel cheated.

After some thought, I've decided that the paltry "sorry" I got from your club reps inside wasn't enough. I want a refund of my admission money, please, for the two tickets I bought. You may mail it to the address on my ticket stub, which is good on QRZ.

 

It was announced several times over the public address system it was going to be at 12:30 instead 1:00. For the record your name wasn't drawn.

Have a Good Day

 

Yes, I understand it was announced... to anyone who happened to be INSIDE at the time. Come on, seriously. You guys couldn't have waited 30 MINUTES!? That was very irresponsible.

Further, you may or may not have drawn my name (I really wouldn't expect you to admit it here, if you had); but the problem with that is... the one who won the prize at 12:30 might have been one of those leaving, had you waited until 1pm for the drawing. Therefore, my name could very well have been drawn. Or my girlfriend might have won.

I don't care how you guys try to rationalize it, you just can't do things like that.