A recent post proposes a specific location (Encinitas, CA) for a Speedster and Spyder Replica Car Show to take the place of SOC's participation in the American Handcrafted Automobile Show at Knott's Scarrrrry Farm.
The crummy weather last year and dissatisfaction with the AHA judging procedures caused a lot of unhappiness for many SOC contributors and lurkers. Speedster and Spyder owners were dissatisfied even though Speedsterowner's dot com has their own voting procedures and awards their own trophies in many categories.
There have been a lot of suggestions / recommendations about reducing the SOC participation in the AHA show and moving our participation to another venue. I think the suggestion requires a bit of bottom up analysis.
First, Mike McSween, John Leader and Theron can testify to the amount of work and organization that goes into participating in the AHA Show. Opening a new venue would require considerably more effort than the effort dedicated to participating in the AHA show. Those who suggest a new venue should be willing to contribute to the effort required to make it happen.
Second, as has been pointed out any new venue should be more convenient, in terms of driving distances, to the SOC's expected participants. It's been suggested that consideration be given to locations in Coastal Central California. It might be possible for Theron using the zip codes in the registry to find a venue that is fairly equidistant from the largest concentrations of owners. (But highway access can make a difference, if you live east of the Sierras or North of Big Sur for instance). Last year we had participation from Speedsterowner from Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson, would these folks come if they had to drive to Cambria, San Simeon or Carmel, CA?).
Finally, when considering this change of venue it seems logical to consider the availability of services such as: reasonably priced hotel rooms, ample dining options, public restroom facilities at the show ground, parking, P.A. systems, and the administrative services (like advertising, parking lot monitor's, event insurance coverage, food and beverage at the show, and location guards for overnight). These services are presently arranged and provided by the AHA. They would have to be provided by SOC, if SOC wants to do their own show.
And like it or not, because of the wide variety of replicas displayed The AHA draws more attendance (revenue) which helps defray the costs of putting on the show.
It may be possible to find a sponsor (like a Chamber of Commerce, a resort, or an Indian Gaming Casino) that wants to sponsor the event and would absorb some of the cost and effort. But it seems suggestions about "going it alone" need to be analyzed realistically in the context of the effort required to make it happen.
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