portland swap meet

anyone going to portland swap meet will be in for a big surprise. theres a circus comming to town,so beware. I drive by the parking lot on the way to work. looks like almost half of the spaces will be lost to this event. the spaces that will be lost are near the max transit station. its not that i dont like the circus , but why in the hell do they need to have it fall on swap meet weekend. I wait all year for this event and im sure there is a lot of pissed off people. give me your thoughts on this.

 

Didn't that happen last year also?

 

No, we've known about the circus that long. Part of the problem is that Easter falls on the 8th this year which the traditional Sunday of the Swap meet. It was moved back one week and I've never seen anything on who scheduled the Circus or when it was scheduled.

 

All about the mighty dollar.

 

We lost our normal spot that my dad and his buddies have been holding down for about 30 years. So we moved inside and downsized. Hope it doesn't suck.

 

I have a cousin that works for the Expo and he says they have that space for the next 5 years with an option to renew. right now they are tearing out concrete, light poles and bringing in gravel to leval the lot for their tents. i hear there is a rummer and take it as such that the swap meet is looking for another place to do their thing.
The PIR race track added several 100 spaces to their venue this year to try to make up for the lost spaces ,but you have to remember these are 2 diff swap meets being held at the same time.

 

Just speculation but next year the dates should be back to normal?? We will all know soon enough! Wrong weekend, circus or not the swap meet will still go on I am most sad about no minibikes at PIR very sucky. Our spot at the expo is right up to the fence for the circus so I think this year we will stick to the PIR full time and not have spaces at both meets?

 

this is now two events next door to each other on the same week end. read this to mean that the city hired another promoter to do the race track and now they are trying to put the squeeze on the expo. if the clubs move this event the city will keep it going at it's current time and place. the greedy bastards

 

Since the racetrack reopened it has been ran by 2 different entities. not sure how it worked back in the day but that is how it has been for the last few years.

 

The clubs used to do both. then several years ago the Smithsonian had the new buildings in april the clubs had to move to May and couldn't get track the same weekend. so they moved the parking to Portland Meadows and used the Expo parking lot. they only lost 500 spaces and saved $150,000 rent at PIR. they made more money. next year they told the City to keep their track they liked having the whole Expo.
The following year the city hired their own promoter for the track at the same weekend (+another day and relaxed the rules) as the Original Portland Swap Meet plus raised the Expo rent another $50,000. now they scheduled this circus and took another building and many out door spaces.
The real shit part is we have to pay two admissions and the clubs are losing this very old tradition and are being called the bad guys

 

Boycott the Circus?

 

city would't care they have the rent all they could lose is some parking fees. you can't beat city hall. all we can do is stand in the darkest corner and watch.
I'm not going to miss the best swap on the west coast because of shitty politics (no politics on the Hamb SORRY)

 

How can you call them greedy bastards, $11.00 for a hamburger, fries, a small cookie and a bottle of water sounds reasonable to me

On a side note the free bus rides, sans tips, is good thing

 

Never forget the free bus ride, Had some driver that didn't speak english got on I-5 and with everyone on the bus hollering he got more confused and we went over the fremont bridge twice to get turned around. a 35 minute bus ride with a bunch of tired riders....jim

 

Sounds like the entire swap meet needs to move to a more welcoming site. Where do the buses run from? Last time I was there it ran from Portland meadows to the site.

 

I dunno,
I think it will be excellent!!
A bit tighter, but I think that we will see some fun finds and good traffic.

 

I'll still go, way too much fun to miss, but I'd like to see it moved to May, maybe less rain.

 

"Most sad about no mini bikes at PIR"

Dude..... People that tool around on those things look stupid. I have seen so many self endulgent ass clowns on these mini bikes run into people at swap meets. They are banned for good reason.

 

Golf carts are still ok there but some ass wipe will bring in a VW powered one and do wheel stands through the crowds and get them banned as well. There is always one or two that screw things up.

 

Standard gas&oil - your just jealous because your probably to big of a fat ass to fit on one. sorry but you started it brother!!! Thats why they banned them because of careless morons that have no respect for people. I have a passion for old school minibikes and am pissed that jerks couldnt obey simple rules and keep it safe.

Gas powered golf carts are also banned. ONLY battery powered carts are allowed at the PIR.

 

The Portland swap meet is always a "circus" anyway, so it will just be MORE of a circus this year......oh boy......I'll be sneezing my ass off being around those animals.

 

its another change like it or not its still our swap meet and we love it

 

Im young and in very good shape, I dont need no bike to get around on. FYI - anyone over say age 9 or 10 that rides around on a mini bike is a self indulgent clown. "Look at me, Look at me and my stupid ass child bike"

You can always ask the clowns next door at the circus if mini bikes are welcome.

 

so long as somebody has Studebaker M5 Parts I'm good...the race track will be more fun too,thank goodness the hotel has been booked for months!

 

I just got confirmation that next years swapmeet will be back to the normal weekend, April 4-6. That means ultimately that the circus will not conflict at all with the swap meet next year.

 

3 weeks & counting................circus or not, there will be LOTS of clowns in town (sorry, couldn't help it!!)

 

I'm not sure the circus won't interfere. They have setup time and that takes a week and a half by the time they haul in gravel and sand to level the parking lot. I don't know if they are putting the light standards back in after they leave but all the islands will have to be replaced. If they are replaced then it will take another week to tear them out again.

 

My understanding, and I could be confused is that the circus will be set up and running for several weeks each year. So it may very well be there every year regardless which weekend the swapmeet is on.
41plym

 

That was the way I understood it too. I may also be confused though, wouldn't be the first time.

 

ill be there!!!!