Not a great start for me Xvention

I was pleasantly surprised, the weather of course is always a crap shoot no matter where it's held. I was only there on Friday, my guess is Saturday would be a different story as there was heavy, heavy rain Friday night and I'm not sure the infield would be anything but a mud pit on Saturday.

We ran into the traffic line up about 8:15 and the GPS showed solid red for 2 1/2 miles but suggested a alternate route which appeared clear and was. We drove in with little to no delay and I was waiting at will call prior to 9 AM. At will call there were about 8 in front of me at it went super fast, I was walking through the gate by 9:05. I have been at races, football and basketball games as well as concerts that took a lot longer to get in and parked. I did hear a lot of complaints that people were in line for over an hour on the suggested route.

It was clean, plenty of restrooms both inside and out and the food vendors were fantastic although they needed more or more efficient vendors as from 11 till 2 the lines were long and service slow. Although the inside was packed it was easy to get up close and personal to see everything, there was good air flow, it was clean.

Although I walked there were more than enough parking lot shuttles with little to no wait. It appeared the remote lots were pretty far out, the one I saw was 5 or 6 miles away and I have no idea how efficient the buses were but seemed a bit far. It's the only hamfest I have attended with free parking and very efficient shuttles. The flea markets were busy and packed, I thought the layout of the infield flea market left a lot to be desired as you could not efficiently walk it going up one side and down the opposite side in most rows, this was no more than an inconvenience but needs improvement.

All in All I thought they did a great job for the first year and after they evaluate what went well and what needs improved I think next year will be better,

The weather is the weather, it would be great to have partly cloudy 70 degrees with 20 percent humidity but you just need to go prepared for whatever mother nature throws at you.

All in all it was much much better than I anticipated on Friday but as I mentioned Saturday might have been a whole different story in the flea market and parking lots!

 

I went Friday. I arrived at 9:00 am at satellite parking lot 1. Walked over to the bus line and a bus showed up in about ten minutes. We arrived at the fair grounds after 20 minute ride. It was my first time at hamvention so I can't compare it to harra. All in all I had a great time. A similar situation on the bus ride back. I think I will return next year.

 

Traffic issues were worked out. We arrived Saturday on a coach bus from the Louisville at area appx. 0930 a.m. No traffic problems, no stop and go issues, straight into the bus parking area, short walk into the main gate.

Overall, very pleased with the new venue. Been a steady attendee to the Dayton Hamvention since about 2007, usually spending more than one day. Growing pains, adjustments, areas to improve...you bet! Don't know of any venue this large that does not have some issue to work out before everything flows without a hiccup, especially when changing to a completely new site.

Had fun, enjoyed being there with friends, and meeting a few attending from other parts of the country. I will certainly look forward to next year.

 

Curious, how was the infield flea market and parking areas on Saturday? Were there many flea market spaces open from vendors leaving?

 

I did not venture out into the flea market while there on Saturday. Even at Hara, I rarely spent much time in the flea market lot. Several of my friends ventured out into the flea market and did not have anything negative to say, stating it was typical of the old location. As we left on Saturday it seemed many of the flea market vendors were packing up and leaving, but I have seen this at Hara as well on a late Saturday afternoon. Hard to say if the forecast had any bearing on those decisions.

General parking that I could readily see was pretty much full, but I only walked between the bus parking and the main gate a couple of times.

 

Some folks left {as did I}about 4pm Saturday because the radar looked nasty, I was told the rain that arrived after I left about 4pm was wimpy.

I was trying to sell stuff, but did wander around some, to the infield, there were not many empty spots that I could tell.

First year at the new venue, a few growing pains, not too bad. I plan to go back next year.
I was glad that I wore my waterproof work boots, which I also wear at Horseheads Hamfest in the fall, as the grass is always soaking wet there.

 

required APPAREL for Dayton 2018
https://www.amazon.com/CLC-Rain-Wea...TF8&qid=1495455942&sr=8-10&keywords=mud+boots

 

Do you mean the race track area? It was terrible. A mud pit. I got stuck driving in. My car was filthy. Two trips to the car wash. Add 20 bucks to the price of my ticket. I had first rate stuff and sold little because nobody wanted to drag heavy stuff a half mile through the mud to the parking lot. Xenia was not well thought out from the flea market point of view. I won't sell next year. Might not even bother to come back. Xenia is pretty but the restaurant and hotel situation is sparse.

 

I will summarize my thoughts. Was kinda put off by my experience on Friday. But slept on it and Saturday was good for me, even with the rain. All we can do is wait and see what they can do about anything next year, which I heard the county got right onto, and hope the weather is more agreeable. I now say overall in positive range for a first try. Greene county likes the money and they will work to keep it flowing.

 

It's a mixed bag of pros and cons. Firstly the wx and mud: If they keep having the fest in May it will probably rain. A few years of muck and glop in a row will kill the fest. You have people not even trying to see part of the flea market because of the mud. Also in some of those tents where they didn't roll up the sides, the air inside got pretty funky because wet grass after 24 hours and no air circulation and you have this fetid air. I went in one and did a U turn because it stank too much. If you have to roll anything heavy in or out of the race track or ride a cart you have to plan your route carefully. This is something that shouldn't have to be a problem. The ground will have to be dealt with, either by putting some kind of material down that will decompose eventually like straw or some other matting (surely this can't be the first time an outdoor event has had to deal with mud--there must be a solution) or move the flea market to pavement. Perhaps the county will allow the closing of Fairgrounds Rd. for 2 or 3 days along the fairgrounds to create a street fair type of environment with vendors setting up along both sides. That plus the paved areas of the fairgrounds would probably accommodate all of the folks selling stuff, but marking the road for spaces will not be possible.

On the plus side as others stated, the food and facilities were good except if I were a commercial vendor like Kenwood I'd want air conditioning. But the area around the buildings seemed pleasant if the wx didn't get too hot and humid like it did on Friday afternoon. Also, let's not overlook the work of the DARA to get the place ready. People had to go out and mark with paint every single flea market space. They had to lay out a grid of spaces over the fairgrounds and walk around measuring and painting the lines. Then, some people had to write space numbers on little plastic tags, attach them to stem rods and go around and stick them in each space, making sure the right number went into the right space. How would you like to volunteer to do that.
Getting in and out of the place was a PITA on Friday but I noticed they must have had a team meeting or something because Sat. went much better with more people out directing traffic. Friday was a mess partly because you had everyone trying to find their spaces all at once, and on the way out, Friday p.m. rush hour traffic as the locals went home from work. For me, if they can just deal with the mud somehow, maybe improving drainage so water drops down and flows away, then I can blow off the other negatives. I stayed in my old Dayton motel so the motel availability problem wasn't a big deal for me.

 

I agree with W9ZD on the problem of getting a large piece of equipment out and to your vehicle. If they would have a 2 or 3 Gators positioned throughout the flea market that were there to only shuttle gear to buyers vehicles the vendors would sell more of the larger equipment.

 

Re: The flea market. Maybe DARA or Xenia needs to get in touch with the people who make the temporary flooring for football aeans when they host concerts. For example: http://www.eventdeck.com/ArmorDeck.shtml

That would let the grass stay, but make for a fantastic floor for hamvention.

 

Well the county is thrilled to pieces with the income and presumably the Chamber of Commerce is tipsy over it, and I heard they are already working to address some issues so I guess, stay tuned. Maybe we will get lucky next year and it will be a hit. All the possibilities and issues were theoretical to them, I suppose, until the actual event.

 

I hate to say this. The ham fest was in 1 year worse than any I attended at Hara over 40 years. The fairgrounds is not suitable for The Dayton fest. Buildings not air conditioned. Friday it was hot and humid and no place to cool off. Few under those conditions were interested in buying. The flea market during the entire event Friday through Sunday was so bad many were standing at the one entrance hand on hips deciding yes or no to take the plunge many turning around saying no way. It was as if the infield was designed and set up for a muddy tractor pulling contest. I live in Arkansas and go to Dayton first to meet other hams and had a great time doing so. Second reason is the flea market. I went to the flea market Friday morning and that was it. Inside I saw the same equipment I have seen before or online. It wasn't just the flea market the whole darn place was muddy from carts and shoes and tires tracking mud everywhere. I feel for DARA where it is not possible to put on a successful ham fest in a pig sty. On the positive side there were more corn dog vendors. You can't make a silk purse out of a pigs hide.

 

That stuff is terrific. I saw them laying it out in anticipation of an event on the National Mall when I was in DC last week. The white surface that appeared in "some" pictures of the inauguration . Probably bigly expensive.