January 14, 2015

NEACA Members and Exhibitors,

Good morning all,

Wednesday morning on Amtrak heading for NYC; Cathy and I have business in the Big Apple this afternoon and the train ride is a renewed experience we haven’t had in a very long time. Years ago I rode the NY Central Railroad many times into Grand Central, then on to Penn Station and the Long Island Railroad to visit Cathy in Islip. That was only fifty or so years ago – where does the time go?

Riding the water’s edge exposes that the Hudson River scenery is still beautiful and very interesting, enabling a view of things not seen from the well traveled roads and highways, especially when passing sites such as the castle ruins of Bannerman’s Island. But why waste precious time? Figured I’d write a letter and do some show preparations while passing these two hours and a half of train time.

Enclosed is our updated 2015 Calendar with our confirmed show dates and places. You all should have already received fliers for Saugerties & Newburgh and a lot of tables have already been applied for. But, I am enclosing them again for all the folks who told me they can’t seem to keep track of their mail. Let’s see if some of you can hold on to them long enough this time; misplace, and you probably will not get tables, they are selling. Hey, New Year … resolve to do things early! We can’t include the May 29, 30 flier for Norwich because of weight restraints but it is now on-line at NEACA.com, Gun Shows. www.neaca.com/Gun-Shows.

However, we are including the next shows on our calendar; the Polish Community Center in Albany on February 20, 21 & 22 and our next Saratoga Springs show at the City Center on March 13, 14 & 15. This is a week earlier than normal and will not be against the Baltimore Antique Show, which has conflicted with us for years. However, next year we will be back in Saratoga on the third weekend as usual.

Our January show at the City Center in Saratoga was great! I don’t believe I heard any dealer complain about business but did hear things like, "Best Saturday ever!" Sunday was a bit slower because of the icy weather but we still had a brisk business day. Our March show should be as fine as usual – perhaps better.

Well, I mentioned the Polish Community Center in February. We have been thinking about that location for a while and now everything has fallen in place. We’ll probably do several shows there but we only have room for about 100 8’ tables, so space is limited and guns will take precedence for the tables. However, an adjoining dining room can also be used for any over flow. And, is there possible expansion plans … ??

All details for Albany are on the flier; note there are no single table sales. Find a friend and take two. Layout will be end caps of 3 and 5 table groups, 4 and 8 can also be accommodated. This is a fine facility that has a bar and full concession stand. We will have easy loading with helpers’ available and great lighting plus plenty of free parking; all are great attributes. A 90 table coin show has been running there once a month for years so I’m sure we can get enough dealers and public to support a few gun shows. The road meter tells us 50,000 cars a day pass their marquis and I am pretty sure 2 or 3% of them may like guns – we will also have our new GUN SHOW banner out soon!

Read the flier – fill it out and send money. We will assign tables on February 2nd. If you want tables – don’t wait! I will probably not take any, maybe two, just to leave room for you guys. Hopefully, my son will take this show over and run it under our guidance. Guns, ammo, knives, related stuff will be the order of preference – however, we do have use of an adjoining area for stuff and possible single tables.

And … we are working on more things. I hope to work with one of our NEACA members to coordinate some North Country events, some of which we have begun negotiations on. We are also looking at other States and other venues; perhaps even expanding our Gun Business with employees or partners. So much to do, so little time….

If you haven’t noticed, there seems to be excitement in the air now that the Republicans and mostly Conservatives have won the day. Oil costs are way down and folks may finally be able to breathe in some relief from high costs of living. There always was money to spend but now I think people are beginning to feel they can afford to at least think about spending some. I think that was the underlying theme at Saratoga … folks are starting to see that light at the end of the black tunnel our country got ourselves into. The conversations were up-beat and happy!

Well, the George Washington Bridge is in sight so time to put this away and brave the big City. We hope all is well and I hope to see these show applications start flowing in. I think Obama’s time is running out and ours is again on the horizon. Keep the faith!

Enjoy the Freedom Train,

Cathy and Dave.