There's just not a lot of enticement for anyone else to go to them unless they are already interested in the topic.
Yes, exactly. My job was to GROW the hobby and advocate to teach the public about computer history. Having a swap meet at the festivals would have done the opposite. Maybe you'd get a few more hardcore nerds attending, but at the expense of vastly more regular people. Consignment was the best compromise, and it was largely run by people like Kelly who knew how to organize it, and Corey who knew how to handle the $$$. I also added the Friday workshops (Ragooman's idea, R.I.P.) to keep the hardcore audience happy and raise more $$$. It worked pretty well, everyone would agree. Anyone who STILL thinks I should've turned East into a swap meet is stuck in the 20th century and doesn't get the big picture of what we were trying to accomplish.