streamer-stripper wrote:
I do think before I speak. Bottom line, if someone can afford a computer and internet to be on this site and are complaining about $15 that is retarded..
$15.00 is not an exhorbitant fee for admission to see all the new gear, be able to feel and cast that rod you've been reading about but couldn't find locally. The Somerset show had interesting classes and pros and outfitters offering trips to out of state destinations. Other guys had slide or video presentations relative to all sorts of fly fishng related topics. Gives you something to do on a cold February weekend.
As the original poster questioning the $15.00, I will assume that I am the individual you are referring to as retarded. I'm not someone who would be considered politically correct, but I do have friends with children that would fit under the general use of that word, and you might want to consider a vocabulary upgrade at some point.
As at least one other poster pointed out, $15.00 can be a lot on a fixed income. I'm not on a fixed income, and I can afford the $15.00. However, just because I have discretionary income doesn't mean I just drop $15.00 here and there on a whim; thats a good way to ensure that one doesn't have discretionary income. And there are ways to post on here without being able to afford Internet and a computer at home; libraries provide this service to constituents in the areas they serve, and good or bad (depending on how you view use of your work time), people have access to computers and Internet at work. If $15.00 is such an insignificant amount, I'll be glad to take that amount off of each board member's hands who feels that way
I reject the notion that just because someone puts together a show, that they "deserve" the right to make money. They only deserve the right to make money if at the end of the day, their income is greater than their expenses. If they choose to boost the income side by tacking on a $15.00 daily or $25.00/2 day admission fee, that's their business decision, but I won't be figuring into their income equation because I won't be buying a ticket. I'd charge no admission fee, increase the exhibitors fee by $100 each, and hope that I'd draw enough additional interest from everyone who could walk on the floor for free to offset the revenue lost by admission fees, which in turn means I can charge exhibitors more next year, and hopefully attract more exhibitors. For the casual fly-fisher, or someone just becoming interested in fly-fishing, I don't see many of them shelling out "just" $15.00 to go to the show.
For myself, I'm not a gear chaser (I buy closeout stuff (rods and packs) from Sierra Trading Post, so I'm a couple of years behind, but that helps with the discretionary income flow), and while I someday hope to go on a trip to an exotic location (Kamchatka, Tiera del Fuego, Alaska, Labrador for brookies), that won't be happening in the near future. So with the exception of meeting some additional board members, it looks like there's no compelling reason for me to go. I'll look at it as paying off just under half of my fishing license for the year. And I don't begrudge anyone that does go to the show and enjoys doing that. I'm most definitely not saying they're dumb for going to the show.
I'm not sure what the weather will be like in mid-February, but if there are any board members going to the show interested in fishing local waters, I'd be game to try and get out on a stream.
