[AT] Portland Set Up Reconsidered

[Danny Tabor]

    I'm not speaking about Portland here but I know
where you are coming from Dean. There are a few shows
I've quit attending just because they have lost
something to me. 
    Really for those who display at a show its about
meeting with old friends and making new ones. The
tractors are just the excuse for the meeting.

Danny Tabor

 
--- Dean Vinson <dean at vinsonfarm.net> wrote:

> > I  read this   topic  and   well I  was  
> befuddled---
> 
> Eddie, for me the real question is whether or not
> it's worth using a
> vacation day or two and making the two-hour drive to
> get over there.  Lots
> of folks come much farther than that, of course. 
> There are several really
> nice shows closer to my home than Portland, and if I
> need parts I've had at
> least as much success finding them at local salvage
> yards or on eBay as I
> have in the swapmeet at Portland.  So why drive over
> there every year?  (Or
> as often as I can, anyway).
> 
> The answer is the sense of community.  I've met a
> lot of folks from this
> list at Portland, and it was always a lot of fun to
> hang around at the
> official ATIS gathering place, put faces with names,
> catch up on news since
> the last time, see various peoples' tractors all
> assembled more or less in
> one spot, etc.  And the ATIS spot was a good one,
> close to other interesting
> things going on, with some shade for the heat and
> some shelters not too far
> away for when it rained, lots of people passing by
> all the time.  The ATIS
> group talks up the Portland show pretty well,
> generates some excitement,
> makes it an event, encourages people to come.  Fun
> to go be part of that.
> 
> I know it may not be possible or even desirable to
> go back to the way it
> was.  Growth and change are inevitable and often
> very healthy and good.  I'm
> glad to see the show organizers working hard to
> provide more active
> tractoring stuff, and am sure they don't need me to
> be armchair
> quarterbacking about one little detail.
> 
> Still, if those healthy changes make it harder for
> the ATIS group to have
> the sense of community and belonging at the Portland
> show that has long been
> there in the past, it'll certainly cut down on my
> reasons for going.  I have
> no doubt it'll always be a good show, just maybe not
> as personally special
> to me.
> 
> Dean Vinson
> Dayton, Ohio
> www.vinsonfarm.net
> 
> 
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> 


 
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