Why Illinois grand attendance is a measure for vendors

If there are about 450 Illinois shooters at Sparta on day 1, and there is only going to be 495 Illinois shooters by the end of the week it shows the vendors it is going to be a long week.

Imagine paying the big bucks for the 10 day event and you don't get anymore shooters for the big weekend. I say big weekend like the Vandalia days.

In Vandalia the blue collar shooters dropped by for two days at a time to shoot and even more dropped in a for a day or two to shop.

 

Went there to shoot the 100th and several more times just to shop. It took at least 2 days to go thru all the vendors at Vandalia. In 2015 I went to Sparta it took less then 3 hrs. I went 150 miles out of my way and it wasn't worth the drive. I was impressed driving the 2 plus miles of trap line, but most everything else sucked (roads, toilet, grounds). Food.was great

 

The vendors at the 2018 shoot seemed to have done very well. Many locals showed up to show their appreciation also. But you have to be there to see for yourselves.

 

Mike,

I was there and it was not impressive. Most of the shooters were in the camp grounds. They shoot and then go home, very seldom do they shop or buy food from the vendors. I did not see any local buyers of components or guns, The tent vendors in attendance were about half the number of the first years. It costs them a lot of money to be there for 10 or more days. If the profit is not there, they can not afford to attend. One of the vendors in one of the buildings told me they have not shown a profit in the last 7 years. They still go to keep up appearance and their name in front of the potential customers.
Roger C.

 

Mike's post is typical of why I used the ATA's own statistics. No more shooters after the first few days. The vendors are taking it on the chin.

And Mike....I have been there. So were around 450 Illinois shooters the first few days. Only a few more came after that.

 

Roger, have you been over to the east side around bank 4? The food vendor with the large tent had long lines every day that sometimes I had to go elsewhere to get something to eat in a hurry. Harlan was there almost every day. I met and talked to locals there every time I ate there. L&M was there and Mike told me business was very good. All food vendors did very well.

 

Krieghoff and Gamaliel did very well off me for at least couple thousand dollars.

 

Are you naïve enough to think a vendor would complain publicly about the ATA? Would that be good for business?

 

Beretta downsized. The whole industry gets stung there. You don't have 10,000 a day visiting the place. You have shooters spread out. And not many of them.

 

Mike, How many food vendors did you count on the property? Not pop corn or ice cream, real food vendors. Roger C.

 

4 on the east side. Note this doesn't include the upscale restaurant in the main building and the fast food vendor in there also.

 

Mike is my friend he would be frank with me.

 

Lunch in JT's is certainly a nice break in the middle of the day. Quiet, air conditioned, friendly staff, you sit with people of your choosing and the food is very good. Beats a corn dog in the heat any day!

 

Plenty of seats that's for sure. You can sit with anyone you want. If they are there.

 

If you go to this shoot for the food it was great. At vandalia the Perazzi building
had more guns then this entire shoot. You could look at 500 pcs wood (or more)

 

oldskt94,
The newbes to the game do not know what it was like before the game morphed into a feel good game. They can not understand the feelings we have about the best days of trap shooting. Roger C.

 

I have always felt that Vendors were the Star attraction at the majority of shoots … If by chance a shoot loses the Vendors it will probably cut the attendance considerably, they are second to location, location, location … WPT … (YAC) …