Posted by Rich Terry on November 21, 2015 at 2:13pm
This weekend I am at the Huffman Productions Autumn Festival in Villa Park, IL. I just finished two of their other shows Omaha and Shakopee.i have done many of their shows over the years and overall they put on a prettu good event. The new venue in Omaha, Ralston Arena is an extremely nice facility although navigation through the show can be somewhat awkward. But most everyone I spoke with seemed to have a pretty successful show.Canterbury Park in Shakopee had record attendance but individuals seemed to be not as happy with sales as in previous years. In speaking with many exhibitors the general consensus was that with the opening of the new exhibit hall and adding around 200 more exhibitors the existing 300 the market share has been diluted drastically. It is a prettty nice facility but when you bring in between 20k and 30k patrons for the show and you add roughly 60% additional exhibitors you hurt the individuals revenue share.Villa Park is held at the Odeum Sports Complex. The show has been in the same facility for thirty years. This year they were still trying to fill spaces as late as last week.It has typically been a good show but many exhibitors are down considerably this fall.Conversations with several exhibitors brought up the topic of the overall condition of the facility. This is the first time since they introduced WiFi into the building that it actually work without much trouble. In years past the system was just not capable of handling the amount of traffic needed to support card sales.The bathrooms are horrific and there is no hot water for washing your hands. November in the Chicago area means very cold water. Ceiling tiles falling down in the bathrooms and the stench from lack of good sanitization. There are leaks in the roof that were eventually draped with tarps so exhibitors items would stay dry. The threshhold at Sotuh hall rear entrance was bad last years with big chunks missing, now it just does not exist at all. Many exhibitors has to wheel everything around to another door to gain entry with their carts.The Huffmans announced that they gave the facility an ultimatum over the WiFi fiasco which appears to work this year. But many exhibitors are still dissatisfied with the overall shape of the complex. The parking lot is also not big enough to handle the congestion. Maybe it is time to upgrade the facility or just look for a new venue.I will post pictures of the Odeum the first of the week.
First time I've heard of port-o-pot conditions in a permanent facility! :) Bathroom facilities alone can be a big deciding point for me. Thanks for the information.
The first photo is the thresh hold for the door I had to come in. There was a large chunk out of it last Spring when I did the Spring show and with a little navigation it was still usable. This fall this is all that is left. I asked Phil Greco, one of the family member owners on Wednesday if they could repair it. He told me it would be fixed by Sunday. On Sunday he walked in the back door and said to me "Oh that still needs to be fixed!"
The second photo is of the tarps they draped to keep an exhibitors booth dry. Very appealing.
I was not comfortable taking a camera into the bathrooms but the ceiling tiles are falling down, the stench is horrific, there are stains on the wall that are questionable, one exhibitor I spoke with had the tissue dispenser fall off and hit her. It was just duct taped to the stall. No hot water and it's just generally a dump. The promoters and owners have bathroom facilities in their office and do not use the ones for exhibitors and the general public. As for going back, I doubt it.
Thanks, Rich, sounds pretty abysmal...do they still use this facility as a sports arena? I'm with Jacki, I don't think I'd want to be there either...have you also crossed it off your list?
I am looking forward to your photos of the Odeum. It is a shame that the place is not being kept up. I am not sure I would like to spend the weekend in a place that sounds that nasty.
As I read your post I forgot all about the snow that the Chicago area was hit with. That is amazing that the shoppers got out in that big snow and then didn't spend much money. Why bother getting out in such bad conditions if you have a pretty good idea that you don't plan to buy anything?
Well... Good show, not so much. Thursday and Friday were actually sunny and not very cold for this time of year. Friday early evening into Saturday afternoon brought record snow fall and frigid temps. Depite the weather there was actually pretty good attendance. And despite a good turnout sales for many have been dismal at best. I have spoken with several exhibitors which have a long history with this show who have said they are going to drop it from their schedule and look for other options.
Comments
First time I've heard of port-o-pot conditions in a permanent facility! :) Bathroom facilities alone can be a big deciding point for me. Thanks for the information.
The first photo is the thresh hold for the door I had to come in. There was a large chunk out of it last Spring when I did the Spring show and with a little navigation it was still usable. This fall this is all that is left. I asked Phil Greco, one of the family member owners on Wednesday if they could repair it. He told me it would be fixed by Sunday. On Sunday he walked in the back door and said to me "Oh that still needs to be fixed!"
The second photo is of the tarps they draped to keep an exhibitors booth dry. Very appealing.
I was not comfortable taking a camera into the bathrooms but the ceiling tiles are falling down, the stench is horrific, there are stains on the wall that are questionable, one exhibitor I spoke with had the tissue dispenser fall off and hit her. It was just duct taped to the stall. No hot water and it's just generally a dump. The promoters and owners have bathroom facilities in their office and do not use the ones for exhibitors and the general public. As for going back, I doubt it.
Thanks, Rich, sounds pretty abysmal...do they still use this facility as a sports arena? I'm with Jacki, I don't think I'd want to be there either...have you also crossed it off your list?
I am looking forward to your photos of the Odeum. It is a shame that the place is not being kept up. I am not sure I would like to spend the weekend in a place that sounds that nasty.
As I read your post I forgot all about the snow that the Chicago area was hit with. That is amazing that the shoppers got out in that big snow and then didn't spend much money. Why bother getting out in such bad conditions if you have a pretty good idea that you don't plan to buy anything?