Folks Of Interest 150.00 Dollars !!! to register

A certain amount of overhead is understandable (as some of it must be laid out well in advance of a show) for stuff like rent / lease, entertainment, security, signs, awards, concessions, etc. and that is understandable.

But it's always frosted my cake that I have to pay to get my car in "my" own show. Fuck, the promoters have to pay the band, don't they? Why not "pay" the rest of the entertaiment, too?

The food guys and bangle vendors just take their proffits and run, skimming the easy cash away from the cause. If the promoter can't take a nest egg of money for the charity from the show cars, where else can he get the moola? Raffles and 50/50? Swap meet booths? Or?

But if the promoters can't pay the rest of the entertainment (show cars) at least they should discount the costs of participation and / or offer a lot of freebies. Perhaps a minimum fee of 5 to no more than 10 bucks max to enter a car?

And then... charge the freakin spectators / ask for donations! If it's a truly worhy cause, why wouldn't they want to contribute? Gary

 

As a former Professional Musician, I can tell you that I got a benefit and enjoyed what I was doing, and was even entertained by playing in the band and watching the audience - but I sure as hell wouldn't pay to play!

Swap meet is a different deal than a Show in my opinion.

Although you can then bring up the argument "Would you pay to go into Sears and by your Craftsman tools?"

Just another side of the coin ....

 

If you readed my other post I was not whining! and yes I will stay home. and trash talking gets you nowhere!

 

I never have understood why I have to pay sooo much money for others to look at my car in a show. I think paying $50 for a weekend to get my car into a show is crazy when the public pays $10 to look at it.

building a hotrod $5000-$100k +
driving to a show for a weekend = $20-$500 in gas
paying the fees to get the car into a show $20-$150
being a spectator at the shows free-$20

 

In /redlands the packinghoue Church has a car show on the morning of July 4, you get a t-shirt and they supply music and free lunch and do not charge for putting you car on thier field, they also have lots of thing for the kids and family to do together. They also have a raffle and every entrant gets a ticket.

 

I got an idea.....SET IN THE PARKING LOT , LISTEN TO THE MUSIC FREE & ASK THE PEOPLE GOING IN WHAT THEY THINK BOUT YOUR CAR . If i want a trophy i would go buy one . ( don't forget the kooler.)
"AND THE BOWTIE ROLLS ON"

 

Brad:
My wife & I did it . I told her when I hit 69 I want a carshow for my birthday. Man that was a looong time ago. She pulled it off cooking all the food BBQ beef,beans, franks,&cheese & stuff for the burgers buying all the soda & beer & went around town & hustled up good stuff from the parts houses,gas stations & tire dealer & grocery store. Yeah it was work but not not back breaking. We passed out invites @ carshows met @ our house & cruised to the park @ the lake. The campground let us use the toilets/tables & if anyone wanted a camp spot they payed for that themselves. We supplied the music ,gave away free prizes, no fee for anything. I had dash plaques made up & we played games even had stuff for the kids. It wasn't that expensive or all that hard & mind you just the two of us. Here's a couple of pics. Oh we had like 50 or so people & 18/20 cars. Not too shabby for a small farm town out in the high dez.

 

You had a birthday party. It was a cool birthday party, but it was a birthday party with 50 or so people, 20 of whom drove their hot rods.

I have a Christmas Tree bonfire every year, too, and do all the grilling, drinks, etc. etc. This year we had well over 50 people, counting kids.

Can it be done for free? Sure it can. If you spend a bunch of time rounding up free donations, get a free venue, etc. etc.

Once you start having to pay a city for additional police hours (including increased patrols, traffic control), city fees for licenses and events, insurance, etc. etc., things really get expensive... these are things most people don't even think about.

There's also a big difference between spending your nights and free time over the course of a year rounding up donated goodies and having a free show, and doing them regularly.

For me, what it boils down to is this: there will ALWAYS be someone who gripes about having to pay, they're paying too much, etc. etc. I still get guys whining and complaining about paying $3 to get into my swap meet as spectators... while they're sitting there holding a damn $5 cup of Starbucks coffee.

Rather than keep saying someone should "do it for the good of the hot rodding community," how about coming into an event, plunking down YOUR money and cheerfully doing your part to support the hot rodding community?

Putting on a show takes a lot of time, a lot of man-hours, and a lot of expense. For some of us, it's a business. And just like you expect to get paid for whatever job you do, some of us have the temerity to expect the same thing for the job we do. If you're registered as a non-profit organization, like a church, there's a whole different set of criteria. It also helps when you have people volunteering to make all the calls asking for freebies, congregation members donating the food, donating their time to cook it, donating the use of their PA system, etc. etc.

For my own deal, I had a car show... that segment of my event was a money loser, but I did it for two years because I thought it would be good for the community. And then the community started bitching about having to pay to let people look at their cars, having to pay to look at cars, the awards were rigged, etc. so I did away with it.

Lots of community art shows charge spectator and participant fees... Dog shows charge participants and spectators... County fairs charge people to enter and charge people getting their hogs and tomatoes judged...

I could go on, but doubt I'll change any more minds. It's easier to arm-chair quarterback.

-Brad

 

That better include a room in the hotel too..........

 

Long beach??? Stop showing your car and take a cruise instead. Way better for you than sitting in a lawn chair and getting fat.

 

Three of us in our club have spent our nights, and free time over the course of last year, rounding up donated goodies, and sponsors, to put on a free show to benefit a charitable cause. We plunked down OUR money, and are cheerfully doing our part to support the hot rodding community. Putting on this show has taken a lot of time, a lot of man-hours, and a lot of expense. And unlike some who expect to get paid for whatever job they do, some of us have the temerity to expect nothing for the job we have done. We enlisted the help of a large casino here in town to help pay the city for the additional police hours (including increased patrols, traffic control), fees for licenses, and fees for the event, insurance, barriers, pot-a-potties, etc. etc., and these things can be really expensive...
It is possible to do something positive for charity, and the hot rodding community, it just takes a lot of hard work. If you really want something, or believe in a good cause, a way can be found...
.

 

Don’t know about you but as I get older, going to “car shows” that are formal kinda sucks. Paid to go to one in Kingston, NH last year, parking by “class”, and they wanted you to stay until after trophies at 3pm. Had to fight my way out, no kidding, when wife wanted to go home. She has medical issues and is a good sport to go with me but not to sit in lawn chair for six hours. I’d rather do the local cruise nights and with the price of gas, it is getting tough as a retiree to do long distance travel this year to major events. We’ll stay mostly in NH this year. As far as organized events and the cost to clubs, our club supports the American Legion NH Wall of Honor for fallen warriors and we do a run to Hampton Beach (June 11 this year, rain date June 12). Donation proceeds all go to Legion, they get the parking lot at the beach and they sell food and their insurance covers the event. Lots of ways to skin a cat with cars and make a difference with charitable work. I love those West Coast Saturday breakfast runs, come and go as you want, have coffee and donuts, really unstructured as it can be. Wish someone would start one in NH.

 

Wouldn't be that hard to start one of those cruises up yourself, would it?

 

I don't do too many shows anymore - even passed on Spring Goodguys this year in AZ. More fun to go to cruise nights, stay as long as you want and do a little cruising vs. sitting or standing in the sun.

 

There is a show about 70 miles from here that the city puts on. No entry fee, $15 gas money if you travel over 25 miles (I think). I go every year.

 

When I do a show (more like a cruse in, I hate the trophy hound crowd) I would be embarrassed to charge to get in and show, Im just glad that anyone shows up!

 

Like I said in the thread on the "don't touch" guy, you build a car for you to enjoy, so put the $150 in the gas tank and go driving instead. Granted that will only get you around the block or so anymore, but the only way I'd have my car on a show field is if I put a hitch on it and use it to pull a trailer full of stuff to set up in the flea market.

 

Long ago, when I got my first car finished, seemed like everybody back then wanted to win a trophy.
I won a few, but, I would re-award it to somebody who I thought had a cool car, but didn't have a rat's ass chance of winning one...

 

Sometimes shows are the best excuse for a drive. We took the roadster from Long Beach to BilletProof a couple of years ago and had a great time, 1200 miles all told.

 

Our cars ARE the show. We should be let in free and spectators pay to view the cars we spend thousands of dollars on

 

There are no victims, only volunteers.

-Brad

 

That idea makes sense on the surface (the old charging the animals to go to the circus analogy), but as most promoters will tell you it won't make ends meet in reality. If you try that you probably won't be able to get enough out of the spectators to cover all of the expenses - rent, insurance, security, advertising, permitting, etc. I'll bet you a quarter that there would be no WCC, LARS, GNRS, BilletProof,.. if they didn't charge a reasonable entry fee for the cars.

We don't charge for your car to get in at LB, but we still charge you as a spectator the regualr $8.

But again there is a long way from a reasonable entry fee (BilletProof, LARS, WCC) to $150 (HAN) - which is strait out gouging.

 

I gotta tell you guys.....
it costs a LOT of freakin money to put on a show....
well.....
a show that has a ton of stuff going on.

We charge $20 for weekend entry to the show.
$5 for spectators
All proceeds are going to www.helpinghannahsheart.org

This is a foundation that we have started to help other kids with heart conditions like our 4 year old daughter who has had open heart surgery and will have to have MORE open heart surgery.

People dont think about what goes into the costs of a show.......

Full page ad and half page ads in national magazines......
PA system for the bands
Bands (national acts)
Renting an actual Drive In (and getting the cool movies)
Getting the track and fairgrounds
Signage (where to park and info)
Ambulance service
Fire EMS service
local sherriffs
Port a Pottys
Printing up 24000 flyers to pass out at the shows that we attend every week........
Local Advertising
and the big one:
INSURANCE for guys getting out on the track with their hot rods
this is just off the top of my head

last year we lost $9K
we are hoping to break even this year.....
but anyone that REALLY starts investigating the real costs of doing an event like this.........
you will see quickly that it is not cheap to put on things like this.
I look at it like this......
yeah - there are about a million shows in the country every weekend - and yeah - you can go to that McDonalds cruise in every week.
But what does it take for you to drive 200 miles to a show?

Are you gonna drive 200 miles to go to another Mc Donalds cruise in?

Why dont you instead go to a big event like Symco Shakedown, ROad Rockets, Lonestar Round Up, Milltown, Redneck Rumble, Billetproof, Jalopy Showdown, Beatersville, Rust Revival, Pile Up etc.

There are always going to be moaners out there that complain about everything..........
but a lot of times - you get what you pay for.
And with the shows like ours and the ones listed above - I think you will find that the MANY MANY people that continue to support those shows think they are getting a GREAT value for their $$$.

I hope people will continue to support the "bigger" shows cause I was tired of seeing the same old PT cruiser, and GTO that I see at every single show I would attend here in the Quad Cities.

Think about what goes into this stuff and you will see that we actually do need the car owners support in all this.

Without the car guys the show would not happen.......but for $20 for the weekend - try getting that much entertainment at a movie or a sporting event or a major concert - those only last a few hours at the most.

OK - enough rambling

Hope you all can see the other side of the coin and if you DO want to put a show on - I will be GLAD to tell you the specific costs involved.

 

and yeah - $150 seems a bit much

 

If you don't like it, don't go. Simple!!
Personally, I'd rather take any admission fee, put it in my tank, and go cruise. I built my car for me, not to show off. Now I may go to a pay-to-park show if it's for a good cause or it's a real event, but I'm not paying one red cent to park in a strip mall parking lot that is free to park in the rest of the week. But, I'm not going to judge those who do and those who put those shows on. Different strokes, you dig?

 

R U saying you have something to do with Long Beach swap meet?

 

I just love the tough guys who sound off to make themselves feel good. I hope it worked. Probably would not hear a peep from them outside of a website..... Just my .02.

 

Now you're talking! Put that registration fee into the gas tank and cruise the perimeter of the show. Smile and wave as the participants are held hostage by the judging schedule inside the gates. Light 'em up a few times to make 'em jealous, knowing if it happens on the fairgrounds, they'll get the boot.

I will say, I do pay a pretty penny to do the 'Hot Rod Power Tour', but it's a week long event AND you get to drive them....alot!!!

On a final note, I saw coverage of the "Torque Fest" event on the 'moving picture box' and it looks like a hell of a good time for a reasonable charge.

 

Look at his profile, his family is the promotor of LB swap

 

I guess I am a cheap ass since I dont want pay more the 25 dollars to enter a show and I better get a T shirt when I pre register,the only excpetion to my rule was the Turkey Run as it was 40 dollars and no T shirt.