Contest Venues

[ncbuckeye67]

     We here in NC have lost a couple of long-running shows, due to issues with the event spaces. Whether it's new owners or "politics," it saddens me to have lost these events. It seems like unless you have a connection of some kind, with an event space, you're just S.O.L. I'm reaching out to churches, but not getting anywhere. I also have a contact in the local school system but have not yet received a response. My home church has some ground level rooms, but they might not be large enough. 

I enjoy the fellowship of these events as much as competing in the contest. It's interesting how far people will travel to attend or put on a show/swap meet. I'm not ready to give up, but it's starting to get frustrating.

Edited April 13, 2024 by ncbuckeye67

[SSNJim]

Try firehouses and veteran groups (American Legion, VFW and so on). They generally have a decent size room to rent. This is a bit of a long shot, but check to see if the veterans groups have a car show. The one near me has one annually. You may be able to hold a contest in conjunction with their show. 

[bobss396]

I joined the LIARS club in 1999 and we were teamed with another club (now defunct) and had a couple of shows in hotel event rooms. It was costly, but great venues (with cash bars...). Then we went to a catering hall... big mistake. I had been there for Bot Scout dinners and warned that it would be too dark, and it was quite an embarrassment for 2 years.

For the past 20 or so years we have been at a recreational center. Great parking, well -lit, easy to get to. Another club has their annual show there too. We book the same date every year, so do they.

Classic Plastic in NH uses an Elks Lodge and it is perfect, with a bonus of food being available. My advice is getting a similar venue, almost any fraternal organization rents out hall space.

No matter where you land, venues are likely going to want to make sure you have event-insurance. Our club is IPMS based, so that is covered very easily.

[iamsuperdan]

We're just the opposite here. We have a ton of venues that will rent a hall to virtually any organization, yet the only model show I'm aware of is the local IPMS show. And it's held in a venue that I feel is too small. But I will attend anyway.

 

[NYLIBUD]

3 hours ago, bobss396 said:

I joined the LIARS club in 1999 and we were teamed with another club (now defunct) and had a couple of shows in hotel event rooms. It was costly, but great venues (with cash bars...). Then we went to a catering hall... big mistake. I had been there for Bot Scout dinners and warned that it would be too dark, and it was quite an embarrassment for 2 years.

For the past 20 or so years we have been at a recreational center. Great parking, well -lit, easy to get to. Another club has their annual show there too. We book the same date every year, so do they.

Classic Plastic in NH uses an Elks Lodge and it is perfect, with a bonus of food being available. My advice is getting a similar venue, almost any fraternal organization rents out hall space.

No matter where you land, venues are likely going to want to make sure you have event-insurance. Our club is IPMS based, so that is covered very easily.

As a fellow Long Islander I have to say that the LIARS club always puts on a great show,with zero complaints.Well maybe it could be a little closer to my house in Smithtown,say Commack.?..Anyway,the rec center gymnasium is the perfect place for their show.Its weird,I have been attending their fall show for years,and I remember for a couple of years the show was held at,what I believe was the Raddison Inn on the LIE in Happauge,(which is now Jakes 57/hotel,and video casino.It was upstairs in one of their banquet halls.It was ridiculous,i felt like i was at a wedding instead of a model contest,and the lighting really sucked.There were some other “catering” halls scattered around LI through the years,before the show finally landed at the Freeport center.

[bobss396]

41 minutes ago, NYLIBUD said:

As a fellow Long Islander I have to say that the LIARS club always puts on a great show,with zero complaints.Well maybe it could be a little closer to my house in Smithtown,say Commack.?..Anyway,the rec center gymnasium is the perfect place for their show.Its weird,I have been attending their fall show for years,and I remember for a couple of years the show was held at,what I believe was the Raddison Inn on the LIE in Happauge,(which is now Jakes 57/hotel,and video casino.It was upstairs in one of their banquet halls.It was ridiculous,i felt like i was at a wedding instead of a model contest,and the lighting really sucked.There were some other “catering” halls scattered around LI through the years,before the show finally landed at the Freeport center.

The Radisson was not the worst venue. I won a best in show award one year and they had to find me in the bar ?. 

You should come to a meeting in Blue Point, every 3rd Thursday at 7. This month it falls on the 18th.

We meet at the Henrietta Acompura Lodge on Montauk Hwy. Take Nichols Road south to the end, hang a left. The lodge is a 1/4 mile on the left just past King Kullen.

[NYLIBUD]

On 4/11/2024 at 12:23 PM, bobss396 said:

The Radisson was not the worst venue. I won a best in show award one year and they had to find me in the bar ?. 

You should come to a meeting in Blue Point, every 3rd Thursday at 7. This month it falls on the 18th.

We meet at the Henrietta Acompura Lodge on Montauk Hwy. Take Nichols Road south to the end, hang a left. The lodge is a 1/4 mile on the left just past King Kullen.

Yea I’ve dropped in on a couple of meetings,and an auction once.Great club,great bunch of guys.I know a couple of members.Too busy taken care of my old man right now.I missed like 1/2 this years LIARS show.Then recently i missed the whole “Replicon”show,cause I overslept.And speaking of the shows at the Radisson,I remember I had an unmarked blue (Lindberg) Ford Crown Vic police car..SAE just happen to be at the show,cause I remember they would cover the show on a regular basis,way back in the day.Anyway,I came back to the table,there was a photo card next to my kit.Long story short,SAE took a photo,and it was in an issue.I think it was around 94 sometime.I still have the issue somewhere.Only time I had a model in some magazine,or win anything.

Edited April 13, 2024 by NYLIBUD

[peteski]

11 hours ago, bobss396 said:

Classic Plastic in NH uses an Elks Lodge and it is perfect, with a bonus of food being available. My advice is getting a similar venue, almost any fraternal organization rents out hall space.

Actually CPMC is based in Massachusetts (meetings and contest venue), but they are both stone's-throw from NH border.

As far as food goes, first few years we used the Elks hall, they had their kitchen open ans serving lunch, but that stopped.  We were lucky to find a really good roach-coach to provide food for our show (he is hired by the club, bot by the venue).  Everybody loves his food.

[Brian Austin]

My own club (MassCar) ran into problems finding a venue simply for monthly meetings, and this contributed to it folding just before the pandemic.  When I joined in the early 2000's we were meeting in a church.  We then moved to a series of venues that were free.  Rent is expensive.

[Lunajammer]

For a couple years our club met in the conference room of our old city airport. A new one had been built and the old one was very lightly used. I met with the airport authority director and he was quite happy that it was being put to use. Didn't pay a cent in rent and I'm sure if we wanted to host a contest that would've worked well. Plenty of parking and restaurants close by. That scenario is probably not available to you but might help you explore outside the box.

[bobss396]

16 hours ago, NYLIBUD said:

Yea I’ve dropped in on a couple of meetings,and an auction once.Great club,great bunch of guys.I know a couple of members.Too busy taken care of my old man right now.I missed like 1/2 this years LIARS show,and the whole Peplicon a couple of weeks ago at Freeport.All cause I overslept.And speaking of the shows at the Raddison,I remember I had an unmarked blue (Lindbergh)Crown Vic police car..SAE just happen to be at the show,cause I remember they would cover the show on a regular basis,way back in the day.Anyway,I came back to the table,there was a photo card next to my kit.Long story short,SAE took a photo,and it was in an issue.I think it was around 94 sometime.I still have the issue somewhere.Only time I had a model in some magazine,or win anything.

Lots of long-term members are MIA for years and POOF... they make a meeting. Out of all members today, there are about 5 or 6 us around that started with me. We have had quite a few new members last year and this year. The club tried a new venue in 2022 that was a total bust, so we are back in Blue Point since 2023.

I have only missed a very few meetings since 1998 only because I was sick, I had a couple of college courses that caused me to miss the Thursday meetings for a semester.  I even made the October meeting after my 2016 heart bypass, I was home from the hospital, 10 days after I came home. I made the meeting in June of 2014 a week after my wife's wake. I never sleep late, my back pain issue plus a hungry cat always gets me up. I was up at 5:45 today with the t-storm, which scares the cat so I was there for him. I generally am in bed by 10, up at 7 at the latest.

I missed Replicon this year with lower back pain, I almost went to the ER with it. The next Monday I was at pain management for a cortisone shot and got an rx for steroids. I will be at the NNL East even in a body bag.

My first model magazine shoot was at the Radisson show in 1998, a '65 Ford stock car that made the Scale Auto contest issue. My last was in 2023 for Model Cars Magazine, a '49 Ford gasser. The last trophy I won was at Replicon last year. I had one car in Fine Scale Modeler around 2009. All told, 13 magazine appearances. Trophies, I would have to do a serious count of them all. They range from pieces of paper to a 3' tall one.

Good luck with your dad, my brother was taking care of my dad quite a bit and brought him to some club meetings. The old guy enjoyed it although nobody was building B24 bombers.

[NYLIBUD]

Thank you Bob..I’ve Gotta say,it would be great if they had a couple of shows a year.But I know it must take a lot of hard work to put together a show.I have never been to the NNL East.Maybe I’ll try to attend.You got any extra room in your car??

[RSchnell]

One of my absolute favorite model Swap/shows is held in a big open air pavilion at a county park. In addition to the park venue, I've been to shows held at Shriner's Halls, hotel ballrooms, community room at a retirement home, several churches one of which the church ladies sold a very solid lunch with hamburger, potato salad, chips & drink for $4. 

While not model car related, the Solid Axle Corvette club I was a member of even held a meeting in the chapel of the funeral home I worked at when our normal venue suddenly became unavailable that month.

There's a lot of venues for cheap, sometimes you just gotta poke around!

[ncbuckeye67]

On 4/11/2024 at 11:57 PM, Lunajammer said:

For a couple years our club met in the conference room of our old city airport. A new one had been built and the old one was very lightly used. I met with the airport authority director and he was quite happy that it was being put to use. Didn't pay a cent in rent and I'm sure if we wanted to host a contest that would've worked well. Plenty of parking and restaurants close by. That scenario is probably not available to you but might help you explore outside the box.

That's kind of ironic. I work right next to an airport (at a place that builds airplane seats).

[ncbuckeye67]

7 hours ago, RSchnell said:

One of my absolute favorite model Swap/shows is held in a big open air pavilion at a county park. In addition to the park venue, I've been to shows held at Shriner's Halls, hotel ballrooms, community room at a retirement home, several churches one of which the church ladies sold a very solid lunch with hamburger, potato salad, chips & drink for $4. 

While not model car related, the Solid Axle Corvette club I was a member of even held a meeting in the chapel of the funeral home I worked at when our normal venue suddenly became unavailable that month.

There's a lot of venues for cheap, sometimes you just gotta poke around!

I've reached out to several local churches, but not having much luck. One said no because they said it was a "for profit" event, and another said no because I wasn't a member.

[ncbuckeye67]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm definitely not giving up.

[bobss396]

On 4/11/2024 at 11:45 PM, Brian Austin said:

My own club (MassCar) ran into problems finding a venue simply for monthly meetings, and this contributed to it folding just before the pandemic.  When I joined in the early 2000's we were meeting in a church.  We then moved to a series of venues that were free.  Rent is expensive.

I used to enjoy the Masscar shows, too bad that the club folded up. We came very close too. In 2022 we got talked into having our meetings at a hall that was shared by a 1:1 car club at no charge. The hidden-agenda was that the car club need a minimum number of people in attendance, the same went for our hall in Blue Point. So we were seat fillers.

There was friction between the 2 clubs, it came close to getting ugly a couple of times. Plus we found ourselves locked out of the venue twice. So for 2023 we were able to get our usual date back in Blue Point which runs us $480 per year. The club also had a bad element in it, which is now gone thankfully. There was a leadership change in the club that helped us get back on track.

[bobss396]

23 hours ago, NYLIBUD said:

Thank you Bob..I’ve Gotta say,it would be great if they had a couple of shows a year.But I know it must take a lot of hard work to put together a show.I have never been to the NNL East.Maybe I’ll try to attend.You got any extra room in your car??

I won't know what is going on until the Thursday before the NNL East. I will let you know. 

[RSchnell]

9 hours ago, ncbuckeye67 said:

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm definitely not giving up.

How about the VFW/AMVets halls like mentioned above? Lots of times those sit empty and I'd wager they'd be welcome the extra income.

[bobss396]

14 hours ago, RSchnell said:

How about the VFW/AMVets halls like mentioned above? Lots of times those sit empty and I'd wager they'd be welcome the extra income.

The rentals are pretty inexpensive from what I have heard. Parking is always an issue, so think of that. So is access, it should be fairly easy to find and get to. The old Gilbertsville show was in a fire department hall and it was nice. 

[Brian Austin]

On 4/13/2024 at 9:04 AM, bobss396 said:

I used to enjoy the Masscar shows, too bad that the club folded up.

 

Unfortunately, the core group got tired of putting the MassCar show on, and by 2015 or '16 that was discontinued.  Another group puts on a show and contest at the Taunton, MA venue that had hosted the MassCar event.  Coincidentally some MassCar members also belong to this other group.  IIRC that show is coming up next month.

I have to wonder how it is that clubs like Classic Plastic can keep going this long, while my club got old and tired.

Edited April 14, 2024 by Brian Austin

[bobss396]

3 minutes ago, Brian Austin said:

Unfortunately, the core group got tired of putting the MassCar show on, and by 2015 or '16 that was discontinued.  Another group puts on a show and contest at the Taunton, MA venue that had hosted the MassCar event.  Coincidentally some MassCar members also belong to this other group.  IIRC that show is coming up next month.

I have to wonder how it is that clubs like Classic Plastic can keep going this long, while my club got old and tired.

Let me know about the Tauton show. I might go. Like I said, my club was on shaky ground as far back as 2018 and 2019. Between 2022 and last year we were on the brink. Several in the club did go to another club.

[Brian Austin]

4 minutes ago, bobss396 said:

Let me know about the Taunton show. I might go.

 

[1930fordpickup]

Our county library has rooms for rent cheap if you are a resident. 

Maybe your county does this also.  

[bobss396]

5 hours ago, 1930fordpickup said:

Our county library has rooms for rent cheap if you are a resident. 

Maybe your county does this also.  

We have a local club that meets at a library, for at least 25 years. The time slot is only 2 hours, ours at a community center is 3.