The Michigan Antique Radio Club, in partnership with the Chelsea Amateur Radio Club, will host a JOINT SHOW,
The "Vintage Electronics Expo" Sunday, June 5, 2022. 8am-4pm,
There will be TWO large pole barns with cement floors, AC power and good lighting. NO Air conditioning.
Also:
handicap accessible restrooms.
Food service on site all day.
Seminars and an amplifier clinic for audiophiles hosted by Muse Audio as we have done at our winter shows.
50/50 and door prizes.
CHEAP SELLER SPACES ! Indoor tables just $20 each. Outside spaces just $20 INCLUDING a table !
Set up begins at 6:30am, larger vendors can set up the day before starting approximately 5pm
We'll have about 120 tables between the inside and outside spaces, larger vendors are encouraged to bring their own if possible.

More info will be at the event site, http://www.thevee.org. This is a very large venue so we dont expect to sell out but do expect a very large crowd. It will be our only summer show this year so if you enjoyed our Lansing or Kalamazoo shows, dont miss this one !!!

We were very lucky to get this show planned as there is a major shortage of rental tables available from event rental companies.... weddings and graduation parties, and such have soaked up all the tables but there is an event the two days before our date so we were able to 'hold over' their tables at a (nowadays) bargain price.

Seller tables and spaces are being booked by Michelle Dye of the Chelsea Amateur Radio Club, so its a bit different than what MARC has done. They book their inside spaces by the "table" not the space ! BUT, you get all the space behind the table (about 8' to the wall) so you can rent or bring another table to put that space. OUTSIDE spaces include ONE table, but more are available.

AGAIN, see http://www.thevee.org for the registration form. Its different from our previous shows so read it carefully, eventually it will make sense. Questions, contact Michelle at 734-717-5660 or wd8iel@gmail.com If you do need to reach her, please be patient, she is not retired and has a day job.

Hope to see many of you at this BIG summer show !!!
Mark Oppat
MARC Media Relations volunteer

Has anyone received their confirmation for their space reservation yet?

Sort of. I received a call to clarify the space I requested.

Well I talked to Michelle and she said they had received my check, which has been cashed, and I have a spot reserved. What's weird is I have no proof other than a cancelled check. I wonder how that's going to work when I arrive Sunday morning???

We're letting Michelle Dye from Chelsea Amateur Radio Club handle all the tables / Spaces booking, she seems to have a system of her own... we are happy to hand that to her and partner with the CARC and have a great big event.
So, there may be some glitches but pretty sure it will run fine, she's a real nice lady.
This show has 2 large pole barns and lots of outside space so it cant sell out. We are very lucky to have this venue and all the set up tables which are in very short supply now due to all the backed up weddings and other events like grad parties and such. Should be a great, BIG show... probably the largest of this type this year in the Midwest. I'll have my usual huge pile of parts... knobs, capacitors, bulbs, box lots of tubes, etc, and a few radios. Hope to many of you there !

Mark. I think I'd like to attend this event as a non-vendor, but paying (and likely buying) customer. However nothing in this thread or at thevee.org mentions how to get there.

Info:
Chelsea Community Fairgrounds
20501 Old US-12 Hwy
Chelsea, MI 48118.
Phone: 734-475-1270

Map:
https://mapcarta.com/W556397574/Map

Article:
https://thesuntimesnews.com/g/chelsea-m ... onics-expo


Mark, please verify this info. Thanks.

Correct !!! The VEE is at the Chelsea Fairgrounds as you show

I'm looking forward to getting together with everyone again. I have had no confirmation, but the check cleared. See you there!

Dan Fox

Have everything I want to try and sell all together and ready to go. Looking forward to seeing people I know and meeting new faces.

Weather is looking great so far. Highs in the mid 70's and no rain.

Hopefully this turns out to be a success!

Do we have any idea how many MARC members are signed up to attend? Can those who make a late decision to attend simply show up on Sunday morning and buy a seller space at the gate to set up outdoors?

How is this show being promoted to attract the antique radio buying public? I'm seeing nothing anywhere except here on ARF.

It would be a major decision whether or not to attend (including the high costs of gas) unless we can reasonably expect 500-1000 antique radio interested buyers attending, at the level we are used to seeing in the past years at the bigger MARC shows. The turnout of the public at the last show at this venue was very disappointing.

I don't know how widely the last show was well advertised but the turnout was pretty good in my opinion. With this one being held in conjunction with a hamfest I think there is enough of a crossover that the show should be a success.

I hope you are correct, Jim. My experience having been in this hobby for many decades, as well as being a ham, is that there is very little crossover interest between the two hobbies for the past couple of decades compared to how it once was. Back in the 60's or so, even into the 70's one could find antique radios and preWW2 tubes at every hamfest. In the recent years, not nearly so much to the point where I completely stopped attending the hamfests.

Well Dennis, I am hoping for the best. I have seen in the past at other hamfests in the past few years that there have been sellers of old radios and turnouts we're very good. Now, as far as sellers of old radios doing well, I cannot attest to any results.

Are you doing the paid early entry at this one?

I'm setting up as a seller so I will be in early.

Back from Chelsea and I would say there was an even split of sellers and buyers. I managed to sell about half of what I took so all in all it was a good show. Now, does anyone know if there will be a fall show?

It certainly seemed like everyone was having a good time talking with their friends and checking out what was available for purchase. I'd like to see an official number for attendance provided by the club, but there were clearly several hundred people present. It seems like having the show in a major city usually draws more casual potential buyers. Sellers near where we were set up outside each sold a few items.

Show was great!

Not official yet but looks like attendance was just over 400 total, including sellers. This was way below my goals as a publicity agent for the event. Seller inside spaces was a sell-out, although if we had more tables available, we could have used them. Both barns were filled and two long rows of outside vendors. I took all my own plywood and sawhorses when we found out our tables would be limited to about 110, ALL were used up. The show ended earlier than the 4pm advertised time... most of the vendors were gone by 3pm, but this show started at 8am (since Hams were involved). Starting at the earlier time in my opinion is a waste of good energy at the later times when newbies are likely to be attending. Being a joint show with the Chelsea Amateur Radio Club, the prices set for vending at this show were well below the current market for collector events. Thus, this event will be a loss for probably both clubs but hopefully was a bonding event for all. I think it was great to see many vendors I had not seen since before Covid reared its ugly head. If we do this event again, I am hoping the CARC group will make some changes to help make the show more viable. They are used to having just a few hams show up at their shows, so to them this looked like a huge success.

The Bargain Auction near the end was sparsely attended, sadly, because there was a LOT of nice stuff there. The ones who stayed for it were richly rewarded with VERY cheap, even free, stuff. All vendors I spoke with were happy to be there, even if they did not sell well (most did from what I heard).

Several total newbies to our shows came by my booth and bought records (mostly 45's I had) as well as knobs for guitar amp projects) and bags of capacitors. Oddly, I sold almost no tubes. Had box lots of untested tubes for very low prices $25 and less, mostly. One couple wandered in after most all the vendors were gone and wanted to know all about vintage console radios. They just saw one of the signs on the road.
The club has no further shows booked yet but will post them in the Club section here and of course on the club site http://www.thevee.org as soon as plans are finalized. A possible October show , and a return to our mid January show date is likely.