I'm going to have to concur with Evan's concern of swapmeets taking precedence over established VCF activities should they coincide with one another, in that I would not like to see that element overshadow the show aspect.  I would be most disappointed to see the event's focus shift to sales of items.   However, for quite a few years now, I've seen many exchanges of equipment already happen at a VCF outside of the scope of the consignment room.  Pre-arranged private exchanges are commonplace at our events, and they're an inescapable element of what we do as a hobby.  Heck, an open swap meet was even sanctioned at Festivus, but that's not in the middle of a Festival. Seeing as we are in the middle of a pandemic, I don't imagine the turnout for such a swapmeet is going to be all that much different from a workshop.  You'll have your few dedicated folks who can take the time to haul some stuff over, but that's about it.  The draw of a large yearly event (Festival or Festivus) brings people from far and wide to visit with their fellow hobbyists, so people feel if they're making the trip for that, might as well load up the car with spare goodies and find a better home for some of it.  Don't treat the turnout for such an event as a litmus test of a normal year.  Cautious folks such as myself will simply wait it out for fairer health climates (you're welcome to call me overly cautious, I don't care). tl;dr: bigger events are great, but not if they're changing why we meet in the first place. -Alexander 'Z' Pierson On Sunday, September 13, 2020, 03:30:50 PM EDT, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote: Evan There is no doubt that everybody has a right to their opinion. You and I had this conversation as well. I believe that a swap meet is a good thing and besides you can’t Poopoo the idea, since this is the first time we actually are going to have it. We’ll give it a try and if it doesn’t work out we don’t have it again. Certainly can’t hurt to try. Besides because everybody’s been locked up inside, no Hamfest, no swapmeets, people are Jonesin’ for a swap meet! Mike Rosen Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

On Sep 13, 2020, at 2:28 PM, Evan Koblentz <evan@snarc.net> wrote:



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In years past, I pushed for a swap meet with previous management but the response was "It would be too much like a hamfest and hamfests are dying".

That's out of context.

Several people in the group asked for a swap meet * during * VCF East. I declined, because many of these people wanted to have a swap meet table instead of exhibiting. That would have damaged the exhibit hall and replaced much of it with something attractive only to people who are already in the hobby.

It would have contributed to shrinking the hobby. My goal was to grow the hobby by introducing it to the public.

Consignment was a (very successful) compromise. It let everyone sell stuff without taking away from the exhibit hall and also making some extra money for the group.

I was right about that, and I was right about hamfests. How many families and kids excitedly go to a hamfest? Swapmeets are incestuous, and that makes communities wither and go extinct.

You're able to have a swapmeet this year only because management is not bogged down running the real show.

VCF's success is because of my earlier decisions, not in spite of them.

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On Sep 13, 2020, Jeff Galinat via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote: Hi Adam, Excellent! Even though I am a little bummed as I live in AZ now instead of NJ, this is great news! Swap meets have been a large part of the vintage computer and ham radio communities for years. I still find occasional vintage computer items at hamfests but a vintage computer swap meet would be great for the hobby.  In years past, I pushed for a swap meet with previous management but the response was "It would be too much like a hamfest and hamfests are dying". One of the largest draws for TCF was the flea market and I had many great finds over the years but they effectively killed the flea market by moving it in to a small room. I still have a good amount of vintage equipment in NJ so maybe I can participate in a future event if it happens next year. Best of luck with the event, Jeff On Sun, Sep 13, 2020, 9:32 AM Adam Michlin via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote: Hi Everyone, Alas, there will be no consignment at our hybrid VCF East coming up, but we have decided to try something new and have an *outdoor* Swap Meet. Vendors (which can be individuals) will be able to rent space and people will be able to attend the event for the very modest fee of $5. All VCF surplus will also be on sale at this event. DATE: Saturday, November 7, with Rain Date Sunday, November 8 TIME: 9AM TO 6PM Location: InfoAge, 2201 Marconi Road Wall, NJ 07719 $20 for vendors for first space, $10 for each additional space. 4 spaces max - BRING YOUR OWN TABLES/BLANKETS/WHATEVER $5 for admissions for general public We want to emphasize this will be an *outdoor* event I'm particulary excited about this because, back in the 1990s, my first stint (habit, if you prefer) of vintage computer collecting was supported by attending regular computer swap meets in Silicon Valley at De Anza College and Lawrence Livermore Labs. The enthusiam at consignment each year tells me we are ripe to bring something like this back on a regular basis, but, of course, COVID make things trickier than usual. Best wishes,             -Adam