TheSamba.com :: View topic - 2010 Summer Jam VW Car Show and Swap Meet

Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:19 pm

which day is the better day for the swap meet? i want to head out for the show, and only have one day available.
the swap is my main priority, since i am looking for some parts for various projects.

Thu Jul 22, 2010 5:10 pm

hazetguy wrote: which day is the better day for the swap meet? i want to head out for the show, and only have one day available.
the swap is my main priority, since i am looking for some parts for various projects.

Monday!!

Thu Jul 22, 2010 5:42 pm

awesome, THANKS!!!! :roll:

Thu Jul 22, 2010 7:08 pm

I would def. say sat. just like cyw, sunday might get a couple vendors, but sat has the most action. see you there!

Sat Jul 24, 2010 11:20 am

wow, it was REALLY freakin HOT today!

the show was ok, saw a lot of interesting vehicles, met some nice people. swap was alright, got a few good deals on some things i needed and/or wanted. thanks for the deal on the storage box Chadd!

Sat Jul 24, 2010 11:41 am

I only stayed for 2 hours. It was VERY humid/hot. But not complaining! Better then the opposite!
I bought a few things, made the trip worth it.

For everyone who made this show happen- thank-you. However, if I could just give a quick opinion without taken the wrong way- after talking with a few people who were selling a few items, I heard a few times how much it was to sell parts at the show and along with several others- I thought to sell parts at the show was quite high ($50) for a small show like this just starting out, personally I think you'd get more people who will come sell and swap and make more money with that in the long run- if those rates decreased a little. Otherwise- thanks for putting it on.

Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:18 pm

Hot Hot Hot....... man, I'm a little sunburned. 100+ degrees I'm sure with the heat index.

I didn't buy anything .... except drinks and an awesome Philly cheese steak with peppers/onions/mushrooms/cheese...... WOW!
Only made a couple passes around the vendors area... much too hot to leave the shade of the canopy and the fan that was there (a buddy's camper).

Great events/activities.
Loved the exhaust sound off.
The spark plug change was cool. 58 seconds!
The DJ had lots of stuff for kids to do, too. A well rounded event.

There was some issues with my pre-registration not getting there....... the folks were very helpful to my delimma.
The gal at the gate directed me exactly where to go.
A member directed me exactly who to see (he actually called them and told them of my issue).
Another member allowed me to use his laptop to verify my pre-registration payment.
The registration lady was completely helpful and caring.
A great group of folks.

I joined their club.
Going back tomorrow!

Sun Jul 25, 2010 7:32 pm

Saturday was so good that I stayed pretty much all day. Was really too sunburnt and soar to go Sunday so I don't know how good it was in comparison. Turnout was pretty good. Seemed to have a good amount from chattenooga and GA. Music (mainly 60's and 70's rock) was pretty good and fit pretty well with the theme of things. Even had Alice's Restaurant thrown in there somewhere.

Really liking the layout on this side of the road a lot better than the old expo were everyone basically just baked out in a parking lot. Exhaust and stereo sound offs were good. I think the winners for the exhaust were a bit over 125 dba.

Only gripe - some type of free water stand would be a good idea when having a show with think kind of turnout and this kind of heat. Kind of shitty to have to spend 3 dollars per bottle of water from one of the food stands to keep from having a heat stroke. :roll: I made the trek to the local Pilot store several times over the course of the day to keep myself refreshed. .

Still a pretty good show overall. I'll go again next year. Will throw up some pics in a bit.

Mon Jul 26, 2010 4:38 am

I really enjoyed the show. The Knox Volks Motor Club members really worked hard to get this done right. A big thanks to all of them.

The engine sound off cool. I kept thinking about how much the neighbors must have loved that. There were some really nice cars to see and even a few good deals to be had (the blue bay on the trailer for $1600 comes to mind).

My only complaint was the area (or lack thereof) for non-judged cars. When I inquired about this at the gate, the ticket man wasn't quite sure what I was talking about. It was still going to cost $20 to get my ride into the show. Seriously? $20 to have my car not judged? Come on, now . . .

Aside from that (which wasn't that big of a deal anyway), things couldn't have been better. I spent way too much money and am way too sunburned to not have had a good time.

Mon Jul 26, 2010 4:41 am

Lurchseesu wrote:

Only gripe - some type of free water stand would be a good idea when having a show with think kind of turnout and this kind of heat. Kind of shitty to have to spend 3 dollars per bottle of water from one of the food stands to keep from having a heat stroke. :roll: I made the trek to the local Pilot store several times over the course of the day to keep myself refreshed.

I guess you didn't notice the guys selling water and Gaterade for $1 each. They were in the middle of the show trying to sell a really shitty '63 and half of another car for $200.

Mon Jul 26, 2010 5:09 am

Rowroy wrote: Lurchseesu wrote:

Only gripe - some type of free water stand would be a good idea when having a show with think kind of turnout and this kind of heat. Kind of shitty to have to spend 3 dollars per bottle of water from one of the food stands to keep from having a heat stroke. :roll: I made the trek to the local Pilot store several times over the course of the day to keep myself refreshed.

I guess you didn't notice the guys selling water and Gaterade for $1 each. They were in the middle of the show trying to sell a really shitty '63 and half of another car for $200.

The Kombice guys had water for $1 too. I agree on the food prices though, but that's a monopoly deal setup with the City to use Only their vendors and we can't do much about it. Quality of service, options of food, and prices All sucked IMO.

Overall, show was great, location was great, folks were cool, cars were shinin' Real nice and it was H-o-t.... See ya'll next year!

Mon Jul 26, 2010 8:28 am

We pulled up to the gate at about 10pm on friday night to find the gate being shut and not letting anyone in like the website said. I had to talk to the dude watching the gate for like 30 mins, I even pulled up the website on my phone and showed him it said campers could come in after 5pm. He told us we were going to basically have to camp on the road, or get a motel until morning. Needless to say I was pretty pissed about all of that.

He finally let us in, and said "if you get me in trouble, Im going to come find you in the morning".

Just dumb shit.

show was small, and kinda boring, but not a complete waste of time.

I think the show was alot better when it was at the place across the street.

Mon Jul 26, 2010 10:28 am

We're sorry that you were hassled by the security guard. We were doing our best to make sure that everything went as planned, but with a show as large as what it turned out to be, somethings just don't go right. The security guard was not with the club, he worked for the park. Last year we were allowed to have the gates open all night (that's why we had what we had on the website). This year the game was changed on us and we didn't know that the gates would be closed until that evening came. However, we are glad that you came and were persistent enough to get in. This will be something that we will address for our next show.

The place across the street is the same place. Various people through the years have had VW shows on both sides. We've gotten feedback that about half of the people prefer the side it was on this year, about half prefer the side it was on 3 years ago. Unfortunately, you just can't please everybody.

We're trying, every year, to make the show better for everyone. The show wasn't as big as something you'd see in California or even your Farmington show, but we had a good crowd. Most folks seemed to be enjoying themselves and even optimistic in the face of the heat. Our numbers were way up over last year, despite the crazy heat wave. So we take some consolation knowing that we weren't a complete waste of time for you and we hope you'll give us another shot the next time around.

Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:37 am

Rowroy wrote: Lurchseesu wrote:

Only gripe - some type of free water stand would be a good idea when having a show with think kind of turnout and this kind of heat. Kind of shitty to have to spend 3 dollars per bottle of water from one of the food stands to keep from having a heat stroke. :roll: I made the trek to the local Pilot store several times over the course of the day to keep myself refreshed.

I guess you didn't notice the guys selling water and Gaterade for $1 each. They were in the middle of the show trying to sell a really shitty '63 and half of another car for $200.

Haha, nope! Might have saved myself some time and gas. :lol:

Mon Jul 26, 2010 12:07 pm

Just to let everyone know, we weren't very pleased with the City mandated food vendors either. We're trying to figure something out about that for next time.

Tue Jul 27, 2010 3:43 am

just a suggestion, like winterjam, offer a FREE used parts swap if you want to grow this show. First 100 used parts swap get in free. you will be surprised with the turnout next year, both sellers and buyers!!! people enjoy walking the swap, and even if a person just has a few boxes of small parts to offer up, I am sure they would if they would do it if they came home with some of that money in their pocket. lot's of shows miss this opportunity all around the nation. Just like OCTO in CA, they charge a general admission to get in the gate with a split bus, and you can swap if you want......... have you seen the turn out at octo lately? and from last years winterjam, to this years turnout in the swap area.......... night and day people, night and day!!!!! :shock:

Tue Jul 27, 2010 4:23 am

Mein73Kafer wrote:
We're trying, every year, to make the show better for everyone.

I think most of the folks here definitely appreciate the effort and realize that shows, in general, are an ongoing process of changes and improvements.

Keeping the big picture in view, we are lucky enough to have 4 very successful VW shows in this area every year. That's more than a lot of other auto-based enthusiasts have in their respective hobby.

Tue Jul 27, 2010 6:11 am

Ratlook,

We've given thought to that. The problem that we encounter is that we're not only trying to host a car show, we're trying to raise money for a homeless shelter. We have to break even on the park and everything and then have enough left over to give to them. On the other hand, I guess what you are saying is that more swappers=more spectators/show cars=more gate money, so it all equals out. We'll get this thing down. All we can do is keep on trying, you know. Thanks for the input, we appreciated that you chose to come to our show.

Tue Jul 27, 2010 6:12 am

Thank you Rowroy.

Tue Jul 27, 2010 7:18 am

Mein73Kafer wrote: Ratlook,

We've given thought to that. The problem that we encounter is that we're not only trying to host a car show, we're trying to raise money for a homeless shelter. We have to break even on the park and everything and then have enough left over to give to them. On the other hand, I guess what you are saying is that more swappers=more spectators/show cars=more gate money, so it all equals out. We'll get this thing down. All we can do is keep on trying, you know. Thanks for the input, we appreciated that you chose to come to our show.

'Xactly! Just like taxes, the higher the tax the less people spend at it, the lower the taxes, the more people indulge in it. The cheaper you make it at the gate, the more people will show up. The more you charge the less participation results. A swapper may or may NOT make money at it. So if it cost too much for him to swap, he may think it isn't worth it. And it is indeed true that the bigger the swap, the more participants show up at the event. Hell, the OCTO shows started as plain swap meets (flea markets as are commonly known in the east coast) with some nice buses just "showing". Though it's grown to a major event where "choice" buses make their debut, it would simply NOT happen if there was no swap or very little of it. They don't even have awards at OCTOs! :o

Also, as you already know, you cannot please everyone every time. There's always a complaint but taking it as constructive criticism to improve upon and so long as the whole experience is enjoyed by most, you will do fine. :P