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This is sad to hear. May he rest in peace and may his family find strength in the face of this loss. I'll be praying for them.

I agree. One thing that gets lost is that new folks to the hobby will get turned off if you're going deep into their pockets before they even walk through the door. And it is often overlooked that you will get money from them sooner or later, either via raffle ticket sales, SWAG purchases (T-shirts, pins, and the like), or indirectly via the vendor tables. That last one sounds odd, but the better the vendors do, the more likely they are to come back year after year, and the patrons will get that taste for the excitement that the Convention brings and they'll likewise keep coming back. That's one reason our local show doesn't charge for walk-ins. Our vendor table rentals cover most of the venue costs, the contest supports itself, and the raffle fills the gap. As long as we break even on our local show, we're happy. Cheers! Ralph

I believe a nuisance fee is a good thing to keep out those that really have no interest, but just happen to be bored and looking for something to do. A fee of a dollar or two is fine. However, bigger fees work against us. I know few people who aren't serious model builders who would come in for more that a couple hours. They definitely wouldn't keep coming back every day. In 2003, I told a coworker about the convention and he brought his whole family only to be hit with a big fee which he wasn't willing to pay. He was really angry about it. No good will there. If you want to attract people, then let them in. Trying to make a profit on visitors is counter productive. Dak