While the responses so far feel the Providence show was not up to par with their standards, we must remember the view from which we are making this statement. Is the Providence Boat Show even directed at our group? I would guess that S-B is made up of mostly surf and boat fishermen that target striped bass and at least 99% of us have an above-average fishing knowledge. That is not the target audience of a boating show. While a show like this may not appeal to most members of S-B, if they were not successful then there would not be similar shows up and down the coast year in and year out. The Boston Boat Show lasts over a week, the CMTA boat show in Hartford expanded from 3 days to 4 this year due to increased attendance, the NY Boat Show was extremely well attended, the Atlantic City Boat Show is a 5 day event, and so on. I did not attend or have a booth at Providence, and I am in no way associated with it, but sometimes we forget (and I am guilty at times) that we are such a small, niche market. That is why shows like RISAA, MSBA, the flea markets, etc. are far more appealing to us as they cater more towards our directed interests. You are not going to find me logging on to
WELCOME TO TOMATOES.COM and complaining about how boring the Hartford Tomato show was last week…
