Prices for so many things have gone up. No one gets rich holding a live show - at best, a show will pay its expenses and we’re really impressed if a show can raise a modest amount of money for a charity.
Halls are getting more expensive both in raw and total cost. Showholders take a risk that they will sink significant amounts of money in on top of the many hours of work.
When I am budgeting a show, I’m looking at total estimated cost, which includes travel, hotel, rental car, and transport which well dwarf the entry fees on even the most local show I attend. (Gas alone is more than my entry fee to the nearest show to me.) At times, I also consider if there’s a possibility for sales (or judging perks) to offset those costs.
Do you consider the total cost when you’re planning? Will you attend a more expensive show if for example a more expensive hall makes your other travel expenses more affordable?
I’ll spend more if there are more perks like a raffle, nice prizes, full tables, etc. I really can’t see spending more than $85 for a weekend, though. It would depend heavily on the show and who was running it and the number and types of divisions. Right now I won’t even consider an OFP only show.
Although I love bringing out my OFP, to me prizes in that division end up feeling fairly random, since my collection is mostly nice examples of relatively common pieces. (Even the low number pieces, it’s likely there’s going to be more than one of them at any particular show in my area.) The lighting of the hall, what other people bring, all that mean that while I have several live show champion OF plastic models, it’s rare for any of them to be consistent big winners. The fun is in unpacking them, admiring them, playing with them, and maybe getting a few ribbons while doing the same among friends.
By contrast, among my customs and resins, (as well as my performance entries), and even the china, I have several consistent winners, so if winning is important to me, I focus on them.
But to me a show is about the people and interactions most of all. When I’m thinking about a show experience, the first thing I’m thinking about is that it is an outing with friends. I don’t want to pay $50 to go to an event where I don’t think I’ll get to talk to anyone or have fun, but I’ll pay $1000 all in to go to an event where I will learn new things, socialize with multiple amazing people, especially people I don’t usually get to see in person, and have an incredible memorable time.
When I think about it that way I don’t care so much what percentage of that goes to the show fees and what percentage goes to the hotel and rental car people.
Very much your last point. My local hobby friends and I kept going to this one show with often questionable judging, etc., because we all were going to be there. So it became a kind of a horsey, girls’ weekend not, overly close to any of us. 😆
Knowing your friends will gather there is maybe the ultimate! And that’s where having a location that’s got at least some elements of a sweet spot, convenient to get to, pleasant meal options, nice surroundings, all of that helps make it a place friends gather.
South Coast Classic held several events at the Los Angeles Arboretum back in the day. That was such a lovely place to gather, personally convenient for me because I lived nearby, but also the light and surroundings meant I always had the best day there, even took some outside photographs in between classes.