I can tell you first hand as I have been the show co-chair under Pat Paquette for the 3 years in Kingston and an ardent supporter of the show the past 2 years. The Kingston location did become unavailable unfortunately and Patrick, myself and many other club members turned over every rock, called about every hall, location, empty storefront such as the Bob's and Filenes locations in Kingston were and we could not find a suitable location to meet our needs in particular a large space and one we could make a permanent home for the MSBA Show! We continue to make improvements though it gets more difficult all the time! In regards to scheduling conflicts with the RISSA show....may I say with the exception of this year.....MSBA has had its show the same weekend in March going back at least 10 years and RISSA is only in its 4th year? MSBA has been having shows for a considerable time longer than the 10 years I speak of and we did move our show weekend back a week because of the conflict with the other show! All I can say is RISSA plopped themselves down close to the MSBA show.....what can ya do? So we moved it a week! We also have to take into consideration other similar shows in the area such as Worcester and Springfield to name only 2 of them. As far as food prices....what are the prices like at the Rissa show in the Civic Center?? No bargain I am sure but when you move into these larger venues......things change and MSBA has tried its best to keep the show intimate, all fishing and consumer friendly! The parking for instance we always try to make sure you don't have to pay for it! You would all be amazed at what goes on behind the scenes running these shows and the minute' details we have to attend to to make it a success! Unfortunately with the weather we had on Friday we had 11 vendors cancel at the last minute and there is not much you can do about that.....you carry on and try to make it the best show you can with what you have and I bet you Patrick was on the phone Friday night trying to fill those empty slots......talk about a tall task. I do hope folks enjoyed themslves and MSBA does listen to all the feedback both positive and negative and we strive to make the necessary improvemnts each year. The club is meeting this week to get the ball rolling early for next year so stay tuned and stay supportive......we work hard at MSBA to put on a great show for the fishing public!
