The help at MSBA is world class. I've traveled to and set up at way too many fishing shows and for sure they set the standard.

I also remember it being close to 100 degrees at times in that hell-hole. Even with the cheap foodcourt upstairs and down the hall, it was too much to bear. I don't miss Kingston.

And I'll echo Flap. I don't mean in any way to belittle the efforts of the guys who work hard to organize this show. And it won't stop me from attending in the future. It's nice to sit by the fireplace and look out over the stadium, and if you know what to expect in the way of food costs, you budget for it (though Harpoon's absence this year put a crimp in it because I was expecting to wash down that $7.50 cardboard pizza with a free sample beer ;) ). I'm just relaying the feedback I get from others. Patrons and vendors alike.

I just wish there was a place on the Southcoast where it could be held that was available. UM-Dartmouth would be ideal, but if it isn't available, it isn't. I also understand the need to have a place booked far enough in advance to make it a definite "go" for the time frame--you can't just wait and hope that some factory outlet mall somewhere will fold on February 1 so you can have it there in mid-March.

I guess having a home after scrambling for a location for so long isn't the worst thing. Too bad you can't cut a deal with the Pats to let patrons brown-bag it :D

I would just like to say thank you to all that came out and made the expo special. :claps: :claps: :claps:
I am proudly the President of MSBA, with very good reason.
Seeing so many people give so much of thier time to the club for almost nothing in return is amazing.
Thank you all for the countless hours the committee puts in from the very begining to the last minute when we pull the MSBA trailer away.
Not one person in MSBA is compensated for thier time. The club just has to ask for help and the members always stepup, no matter what the odds. This years show (put on within 4 months of approval) was the most well organized show we have done to date. It is all thanks to the MSBA members that step up.

MSBA will continue to strive to improve, as we have done since 1950.

Again, thank you to all the volunteers, vendors, and public for coming out and supporting MSBA.

Anyone that is not a member of MSBA, should be. Then you would get a sense of the pride its members take in wearing the colors...

Chris Lincoln
Proud member and President

Chris we know it and we appreciate it believe me, no one can ever say anything bad about you and your people in my presence, I know how hard you worked and continue to work at it. Hats off to you all at MSBA.:cheers:

One thing though, if Parick ever realizes he has a talent for doing the public announcements and visits Hollywood, your screwed! He could be that guy you here on the previews on DVD's!!!!!

Chris, Slingah and I were commenting on Patricks perfect radio voice and how he should get on the radio somewhere.......then we could turn him off at will!;) :bl2:

He does have a great "on air" voice!:kewl:

Hmmmmmm....I hear Jay Baver is leaving OTW to go back to the mountains and his family. Maybe there is an opportunity here....lol

Basic Patrick = the next James Earle Jones :btu:

I wonder if the Krafts will have some stipulations added to the show once their mega mall with a BassPro is finally open??

Patrick - notice they said RADIO and not TV :bshake:

Yeah Patrick....radio voice does not translate to TV face!!:bl2:

You guys do put on a great show, althought I couldn't attend this year, have gone in the past few years and it is excellent - for a small entrance fee, a bunch of great seminars, lots of great fishing talk and great vendors as well ... there are a ton of shows during the winter, seem to be more than ever, but not all very good. MSBA puts on a great show ... so thumbs up to everyone involved, you guys provide a great service to all of us.

Video Killed the Radio Star......just look what MTV did to Joe Jackson

Now that is some funny chit right there...see you Memorial Day weekend my friend.

I have a big problem with the mass show..
It's too damn far..
Guy's spending 2-3 hundy on fishing equipment complaining about food prices are funny.
Patrick could play some guy getting snuffed in a Scorsesse film.
It would have to be the big screen..

I thought the show was great. I don't look at it like my $15.00 doesn't buy me anything. It's a show......a show usually means it has an entertainment value. And that's exactly how I view it. And with 11 vendors not being able to make it I thought it was still a great show.

As far as food and beer prices go what can you do. The boat show the food was outragously priced as was the beer. But American Legions and VFWs and gun clubs alike raise the beer/liquor prices for hall events. It happens.

But I don't go to the boat show or the fishing shows to eat or drink. If I can get a burger and a beer at the event it's all the better.

I met a few people from here and from the MSBA and had a great time. I also met some of the guys on here who have business which gives me new places to acquire my equipment.

My friends and I look forward to the show every year. We never leave empty handed.

Great Event and Great Job by ALL invloved!!!!!!

Did you call Lowell High School, the field house is massive! I know it is bigger than the area at Gillette. If you have been to the Tsongas arena you probably have seen the Field House at Lowell High School as it is the octagon shaped building across from the arena.

You may not have all of the creature comforts like internet access but from what I can see no one wants to afford the access anyway.

Was it too far north? How many folks came down from the north to go to Gillette?

I also know that there was a fishing show at an Arena in Wilmington...but that may be the same cost as Gillette.

Also I know this is way far north but the Race track in Salem, NH is enough to hold the vendors at the MSBA show...but again the cost may be the same and it may be WAY too far north for some folks.

Just some suggestions for maybe next year.

Many patrons don't spend anywhere near that. Many spend less than $50.

I can't speak for all of the folks who complain, but I think what rubs them the wrong way isn't the cost--it's the fact that they're getting boned. $7.50 for a piece of carboard with a ladle of sauce and a handful of cheese spread over it--rubber burgers--4 oz of soda in a cup with 12 oz of ice for $4. I think if the quality of the food was better, you'd hear fewer complaints. Plus, the stadium security people are downright militant about bringing in outside food/drinks--even with the vendors who come in early to set up before they can even buy a cup of $4 coffee.

My friends and I walked in with coffees from the outside and nobody said a word. Then after the show we went to the outback for burgers and beer. $20.00 a piece for a burger and two beers each. They were 12 oz. beers. I think the stadium has 16oz. beers? Do they? They do for the games...

But the burger and fries were very tasty.....

I bet all who saw you were envious.....cause that "Dunkin Donuts" coffee inside sucked!!! Thank Gawd my buddies went out both days and got me the real McCoy!!:gu: :kewl:

It does suck in there. I had the coffee at a game last year. It was horrible......

I wonder if people complain about these prices on food and beer when the pats are palying the colts in a run for the superbowl....problably not because its expected.....

Shows suck.

:rotf2:
yeah, but aren't we gonna see you at RISAA Joe?

Yes...I'm going....
I know I'm better off working on the website than selling at a show, but yes I'm going.
You work at a show and even if you do well you have not accomplished anything lasting...It's like 60+ hours work...People will say that you get a big bounce and you get a lot more regular customers and your business grows from the exposure - but they're wrong about that just like they're wrong about everything....

Somebody will come along in the near future with a better idea for shows.....Not me, but somebody will. A smaller more specialized show system would work much better.

like, say, a surfcasting only show?

I bet Bass Pro will...DOH!

I know they have a spring fever sale or something like that...great deals on gear too!

I think for a lot of people--myself included--shows are more of a social thing, and a chance to beat cabin fever. I never buy a lot of gear--I think I spent $10 on some 5 oz Ronz eels and another fin on a Derby hat, since I haven't been to MV since 2001. But I know that I'm going to run into people who I haven't seen in awhile.

I also think that the internet has removed some of the allure of shows--especially the big mega-shows like Worcester and Suffern, NY. I used to attend Suffern religiously, even though it was always the same vendors in the same places, and 80% of it wasn't stuff I'd ever be interetsed in--like Montana elk guides, beef jerky and miracle knife vendors, and the like. What used to get me there every year like clockwork was the chance to see the new fishing gear for that year from all of the major manufacturers, and to leave with an armload of catalogs. These days, guys fish in August with "new" reel models for the next season after getting one online from an overseas source, and a catalog is basically a few mouse clicks away. I remember the last year that the MSBA show was at Braintree Armory. The Abu rep was showing off this hot "new" Abu model called the 6500 Mag Elite. I'd already been fishing with one for two years after buying it online from England ;) New to the US market was the only "new" part of it.

Someone before me already did about 8 years ago:

SWE Fishing Show

River's End Tackle also does something similar although on a smaller scale.

And, I concur, shows suck. I can't wait for April 2nd.

did you post that Pete at the time! I didn't know!! too bad I missed it, sounds great

Definitely. It was stickied at the top of the main forum for about a month. ;)

you didn't just say stickied....did you



great show the boys at swe put on.....

What else would call it?.... :hihi:

Ohh yeahh, I was gone that weekend skiing.
too bad, next year!
I can't wait for RISAA, I've got gear-fever now

I had a great time, I think a lot of people relate the shows with amazing deals on equip. Which is fine, we all look for getting things cheaper if we can. For me spending $15 to hang out talk fishing and get to meet some new faces is worth it. One thing we all know is you can't please every one and I think the msba guys have done a great job at trying. So if you went to the show and left pissed cause it wasn't to your liking, then something is definatly wrong with you. There is a lot worst things we have all spent our money on.

something other than stickied......damn you made me say it twice

[QUOTE=Mike P;475677]Many patrons don't spend anywhere near that. Many spend less than $50.
QUOTE]

I too want to say that I dont think anyone is questioning the fact that MSBA outs on a good show and they try their best for location etc. but the fact of the matter is it cost me a good chunk of change just to go. $25 in gas, $15 to get in (which wouldnt be bad if I knew MSBA was getting a big chunk of that but I doubt it...I am sure it goes to overhead) and I went alone...I cant imagine people bringing spouses or kids what they spend.... I am already spending $40 to get there and in the door. I spent $17.00 on lures/raffle ticket and $4.00 for a med coffee (and no it wasnt very good) I will admit when I got home I felt a little guilty/absurd for spending $60 and all I had to show for it was 2 lures.

I think I lost track of what my point really was but anyway I guess I just mean to say it can be a very expensive show to go to. Although a good show not a show I go to every year and the cost being a big reason why. Now I know not everyone has to drive 180 miles round trip like I did....but I am sure plenty of people had to factor gas$ like I did.

Not me. I made my brother-in-law drive. lol

I did buy him a coffee and a bagel though...

I still think he got the better of the deal since last fall I drove to Wellfleet when we shrink wrapped his father's boat. My Expedition isn't very gasoline friendly....

I only live a couple of towns away from Foxboro so the ride wasn't a big deal for us. I don't know if I'd do 180 miles but I'd make a decent run to attend the show.

I'll say it again. The economics of these shows may not be great, but by this time every year I am gnawing on some braid so the shows; SWE,MSBA and RISAA, give me some relief. MSBA keep doin what you are doin and I'll show up. Hell I cut a deal with the Boss, we go to MSBA then we drive over to Wrentham Mall

What Mike P said
 

The show is more social than it is anything else. Its fun to put names with faces and spend time with people that you have everything in common with. I didn't go or work it this year. My real job took precendence. Saving my vacation time for Booofishing in May, snd the first run.

I know many of my fellow clubmembers spent countless hours bringing the show to fruition. Wherever it is held it is an extraordinary undertaking. It will be interesting to see at the next meeting how successful the show was.

One more thing, I wouldn't pay $7.50 for beer if I was dying of thist or $4.00 for a medium coffee, that is made from concentrate, if someone was holding a gun to head.

Also, you're talking about people who have the scratch to buy season tickets, for the most part. And many of them tailgate before the game, so I would imagine it's primarily beer sales. The more you buy, the less you feel the pain of the $15 for 2 passing to the counterman ;) After a couple of trips, you probably start leaving the fin in change from a $20 for a tip :D