Event Coverage Symco Shakedown 2016 (Oshkosh)

I will be writing about this show and wanted to keep it objective. I would like to hear what other people think about the new venue and the changes. Change always shakes people up so keep it positive.

 

Friday was a little slow as the weather was not the greatest, but today was fantastic. The quality of cars and the surroundings and people were absolutely great. Anyone who didn't get out to the Pioneer airport really missed a spectacular portion of the show. As any first time show there are things that will need to be attended to. But I think the future is great for this show.

 

Jack. Thanks. I was there on Friday and I wanted to get a handle on how it was on Saturday. This is very helpful information. Hope to hear from other people.

 

My family and I had a good time. We were surprised when we pulled in and was asked to park up at the Hangers.

Having the tri-motor and stearman flying around was great.
The show was a little spread out, but if there were another 100 cars it would have filled in nicely. It's a great place for a show. Bands were good, cars , planes, and people were great.

 

I agree...good show, a bit spread out, but a great place to have a show.
A few shots from today:
2016 Symco Shakedown by Adam, on Flickr

2016 Symco Shakedown by Adam, on Flickr

2016 Symco Shakedown by Adam, on Flickr

 

I enjoyed the planes, seeing the vintage aircraft was worth the admission alone.

 

My wife and I attended on friday, the cars in attendance were pretty good but the swap meet was kind of a bust, likely because of the weather. Show was very spread out but a great venue! Very excited for years to come. Wish I came out today (Saturday) but promised the wife to lay 1000ft^2 of new flooring. Thanks for sharing pictures from today!

 

Some of the cars and stuff

 

^^^ For the woman on the right.
Hi, me Tarzan.

 

Thanks people. I try to be a real journalist. That means I try not to put my opinions in an article. Only the facts. All of you have helped me with that. And you folks all take beautiful pictures. Maybe it's time to hang up my hat and let you write the articles. You all look like pros. I could use a few high-res pioneer airport photos to help round out the article, Anyone interested in helping with that can reach me through the HAMB or at www.gunnersgreatgarage.com

 

Oshkosh specs:
Non-criteria cars (Allies Sticker)- roughly 250
Criteria cars (Premier Sticker)- around 150
100% period, hand picked cars (Showcase Sticker)- around 40

Granted not all cars were there at the same time but that total numbers

 

Perfect venue for a show!

 

We have all the issues fixed for next year. Moving to a better location on the grounds. More vending including posted outside vending. Better camping plus buildings we can use. We will still do the pioneer exhibit, but no show in the nature center. We will just leave it open for everyone to enjoy without vendors and tents in the way.

Tentitive dates are August 11/12.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I started writing this in a different thread....Oshkosh vs Unionville.....now its gone so I am posting it here.

I hit the Oshkosh show with my group this year. Mostly because we thought the show had been moved. Had we known Unionville was still on we probably would have gone to Unionville as my family has property that we stay at in nearby Iola. When we did find out the show in Unionville was still taking place we all felt a bit deflated. Seems to me the people in Unionville should have done a better job of letting people know there was still a show going on there and the Oshkosh group should have disclosed that they were a spin-off (not in a bad way). Instead of feeling misinformed/under-informed we decided to take an open minded approach and see what it was about in Oshkosh. Hell maybe it would be better. Our consensus (group of 10) was that Oshkosh experienced a learning curve. Duh! It was too spread out, although has great room for expansion, vendors good, swap meet small but room to grow, nice people attended, staff was nice but again going through a learning curve, alcohol constraints were not too bad but we liked the freedom at Unionville better (we can do without more state laws like back in the late 1950's right?). Oshkosh was confusing as far as where things were located (again learning curve), tram was appreciated but I'd walk the distance if it was full of show related stuff. All the intent was there but it fell short for us. It was like expecting Happy Days and getting Lavergne and Shirley. Both great shows but different. We missed the Unionville feel and vibe. We worked hard to get our cars road ready for this show and it just wasn't the same. Will Oshkosh be improved in the future? Has a decent shot in our opinion. Oshkosh was a first year show so it is hard to make a fair comparison. It seems a shame that either show should suffer from the success of the other. It would be great if the two shows could stop competing and truly make both shows back to back weekends. All the summer camps I know of go more than one weekend. How great would it be for the vendors, musicians, car enthusiasts, to have back to back shows located so close? Hell I would plan a full 10 day vacation and spend my money and time with people who love all the same things that I do. 10 days of camping, drinking, music, and old cars! Now that would be a summer camp for hot rodders! Not sure what the scene was at Unionville this year but if it was even close to what it has been in years past our group would choose Unionville unanimously. Who knows though.....the Oshkosh crew is trying hard to create the same vibe and it is obvious that they are passionate about what they did and plan to improve on. Oshkosh as good? Not yet. Better someday? Maybe but in a different way. Don't make us choose! Johnny Cash and Elvis got along right?

 

I'm not even reading all of this reply. Garbage. Insulting. Oshkosh is not a damn spin off. How dare you call me a spin off. I started the show with Krooser and own it in its entirety. Just because someone says they are the same in Symco doesn't mean they are. They have no legal rights to anything I've done there and unfortunately when someone with no assets and no job steals your stuff, you get no legal recourse when you go after them. Look it up. Symco Shakedown has a pending lawsuit against the person doing the new show at our old location. Waste of my time because as they say you can't squeeze blood from a turnip. We left because the property is uninsured and what is left there is absolutely nothing of us. Not one thing has changed in this move except for our location. Facebook page, website, staff, graphic artist, commercial vendors, everything, same. Even down to not one of my food vendors stayed there.
If the other group started up a show anywhere else it would fail. They don't have the drive that I do. It was mildly successful only because they used our hard work to mislead people to think its the same. Down to the fact they copied and pasted word for word my website. You have no idea how hard it is to protect your intellectual property rights, nor how expensive it is. I've had enough of people calling me fake and an imposter. They have a huge slander campaign going and this guy knows exactly what he is doing and how to use the system. He lied to so many people. What remains there is fake. They broke the law and I can't get any satisfaction out of it because the legal system is designed to protect the guilty. It's crap.
We put on a great show this year at our new location. Was small compared to past years, but we were insured, safe and had a very family friendly atmosphere. That can't be said about our old location. We heard nothing but nastiness about it from people who came here from there. Fights, naked women waking around, open drug use, on top of knowing they had no insurance for doing burnouts, flame throwing, fire eating and probably mini bike racing as well. We never sent spies up there, we didn't need to. But they sent people here, they even told our gate staff they were sent to check things out. Sad.

Our camping was great. We had more vintage campers than they did. We heard from a lot of people our swap meet was better. Our display inside the pioneer airport was awesome on Saturday. Flying 1920's planes on top of that was super bad ass. Coolest thing I've ever seen at a car show. We had a great show despite the weather and the mistake of trying to do the car show separate of the camping.



Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

The People make shows ! Old friends and new ones guys

thanks for posting some of the bitchen cars at

 

I think its a shame that as someone who supported you this year and gave it a try you would be unwilling to read my opinion of your show in its entirety. I tried to be objective and not insulting and give a rendition of our experience at your show in comparison to our past year's at the other location. It is not garbage it is what we experienced. What I think is garbage is your attitude and attack on those who supported you this year AND in years past at the other location. It is negative. Its killing your vibe. Quite frankly I was excited of what might become a better show and if you read what my entire reply said you may have caught that. I think the person who is doing the insulting is you. I tried to give constructive criticism in hopes that it would be heard and put to positive use. Sounds like you are unwilling to even think about it and bitter. I am not the one who wronged you and even supported you by attending. I just wanted to state what my groups experience was and thought that was what this thread was created for. I kept it positive and acknowledged your efforts and the fact that the show had bugs to work out only because it was a first time for the location. It should be expected for anyone doing such an endeavor for the first time at a new location. I acknowledged that I also did not know what the scene was this year at the old location. I made a comparison of my past and present experiences. That is all. I can't help that you are unable to listen to what others thoughts are who attended and supported your show without attacking them just because you don't like what they have to say. I am after all comparing your show from past years to your show this year. I am sorry that you are experiencing all the legal challenges etc.....but you have no idea what I know about intellectual property rights sir. All you have done is sway me to go North even more. I'll attend your show again because it was a great show and I expect it to get better and because I think you care. If you read my last reply to the end you would have caught that too. Something about being passionate.....Next year though I think its Unionville for us until the mojo gets better in Oshkosh or we find that Unionville can't pull it off without you. Good luck to you and I hope both shows are successful. After all the hobby needs it.

 

Well said. I hope you come back north. We had a great time this year, one of the best.

 

Why don't you let people have an opinion of their own without throwing a tantrum?

 

Why don't you stop harassing and slandering us on Facebook rooster.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I don't slander but I have posted facts. I'm not here to get in a pissing match with you. And you do throw tantrums when people ask questions or state opinions. So I'll just be over here with my little club jacket on watching all the daytime drama.

 

Cliffy,. first off, I will gladly come back to Oshkosh. Great show. Loved the quality of the cars. Loved the planes. EAA staff was friendly. You have recognized the site issues most people are talking about. Good job. I will be back. The show has a TON of potential in Oshkosh.

As far as Unionville versus Oshkosh, I can see that it will be hard to duplicate the charm and vibe of the old show site even tho you have all the same show components, plus the planes in Oshkosh. The EAA site is less organic. It's a professional venue with professional staff. This is not bad. It's just different.

Do attendees care about the insurance issue? A good number probably care MORE about the Symco town vibe more than then insurance thing "because it's never going to happen to me". Obviously, it is an important issue to you, as it should be. Is the other group attempting to profit from your hard work? Absolutely. Your show at the Symco venue was too successful to not have someone host a copy cat event and go after those same dollars. This is unfortunate, as both events lose.