I went to a slot car swap meet today that invited train people. It was in a ballroom in a resort hotel. The hotels are hurting and giving away space cheap.
I am usually leery of these upscale meets in rooms with carpet and cloth table covers, but the promoters were really nice.
They had bagged breakfasts with a sandwich, a fruit cup, a yogurt, and a cupcake for the table holders during set up, along with large urn of coffee and bottles of water and OJ. ALL FREE!
The room was huge and mostly empty. Maybe 40 tables of cars and trains in a room bigger than a football field. I think the promoter makes money by charging $30 for admission while sellers are setting up. It's $5 after 9AM. There weren't a lot of buyers. Mostly it seems to be the sellers trading among themselves so they work out OK.
I had fun hanging out with the train people, and I sold some crap. One of the guys gave me 5 Lionel Prewar 072 switches. That should help me get all the ones on the layout working. I spent $10 on a log car because I know someone who would have bought it if he was there. Otherwise I spent nothing.
I saw some people grab some great deals, but I didn't see anything I wanted.
During the show, some of the sellers were talking about doing short parking lot flea markets. Toys, trains, slot cars whatever just out of the back of the truck, or a from table you brought with you.
There's an empty K-mart near me that has a car show every Saturday. No one runs it. There is no organization, the car nuts just know to show up. The first time I went with my old VW, I parked and started hanging out, and later the VW people told me they parked on the other end, so when I went again, I parked near them.
These might be good. I know I would go just to hang out with train people for a few hours.
After I got home, I got a message from one of the local HO clubs saying their show for the end of Nov. is on. The church they meet in is allowing them to have the show as long as they tell people to wear masks.
I think it's opening up.
