This year the Dayton Hamvention has decreed that
a maximum of two (2) vendor passes per flea
market space will be allowed. As they do every
year, they've also repeated the rule prohibiting
trading or selling outside regular show
hours...including setup day. The difference this
year is it appears they may attempt some sort of
actual enforcement.

I emailed them and asked specifically about these
two rules. The query I sent appears below, followed
by their response.

Those who may be contemplating getting a space this
year, or are expecting to have a vendor friend get
passes so they can get in on setup day, might
consider emailing to the address at bottom to
express their, er, opinion.

--Mark

********My query:
Please answer two questions:

1) Why do you have a rule against trading and/or
selling at any time other than show hours? (I
assume the rule also applies to Thursday, setup
day).

2) Why have you limited people who have bought
spaces this year to a total of two vendor passes?

--Mark

********Hamvention response:
Hi Mark..

Here's the deal on the two ticket limit...

We have found that there are simply too many
people in the Flea Market area on Thursday, setup
day, when people and moving vehicles are vying for
the same space in the aisles. This causes our local
safety officials, and our insurance carriers to get
nervous about the possibility of accidents. As you
know, we already have a pretty strictly enforced rule
about no moving vehicles in the Flea Market during
the show open hours which is the result of these same
concerns.

The second problem is that we have had many complaints
about trading occurring on Thursday, which is
prohibited by our rules. We do not believe it is fair
to the 20,000+ visitors who must wait until Friday to
get into the Flea Market to be unfairly disadvantaged
by a portion of the 3000 vendors and friends who have
had the privilege to get in early, and choose to not
only break the rules, but to disrespect the greater
number of potential customers who can't get in. I
observed several instances of trading on Thursday last
year, enough to convince me that corrective action
was needed to create a level playing field for
everyone.

Some of you have written to point out that you simply
cannot set up yourspaces with only two people per
space. My personal experience as a Flea Market vendor
for many years is that more than two people PER SPACE
simply get in each other's way.

The bottom line is that we have several requirements
put on us in order to have a successful Flea Market,
and this change is our way of meeting those
requirements.

We hope you will see this as a path to a better,
safer, and more fair for everyone Dayton Hamvention
Flea Market.

Thanks for your understanding.

Regards,

Tom.

Please reply to :

Tom Holmes, N8ZM
Flea Market Chairman
2005 Dayton Hamvention