2008 Midwest Tradefest Review
Monday, March 31st, 2008I had the pleasure of attending the Midwest Tradefest in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday. When this Trade-O-Ree started I was on the organizing committee taking care of registration and assisting with promotion, this year I returned to instruct Collections Merit Badge. I also set up a table and sold some dupes and displayed my Glacier’s Edge Council CSP Collection.
It was great seeing how the event had grown. There were some great collections on display and the walk-in traffic was steady. I was impressed to see all the regional walk-in traffic that showed up through out the day. I didn’t see much local stuff (Four Lakes, Tichora, Glacier’s Edge) but there was a lot of regional items and some big collections on display and for sale.
I enjoyed explaining and showing all of the Glacier’s Edge CSPs that had been issued. Most were surprised that we have issued that many CSPs already (we are only up to 17). I was also able to help some friends fill a few of their Ed Bryant Scout Reservation needs.
We were able to attract a fair number of youth to the event. I had 9 Scouts earn Collections merit badge and more just showed up to browse the tables. Its always great seeing the youth get excited at these events.
Here are a few of the highlights that were posted on Patch-L by Kurt, the event’s main organizer:
* The Wisconsin state collection from the John Conley Williams collection sold and is being broken apart.
* There were also a number of experts in the room with book authors, ISCA Journal contributors, and Blue Book editors present. I was truly amazed by the crowd we attracted to our trade-o-ree.
* There were some great displays: Tony Lazewski - diamond hat patches, Dave Pede - Leekwinai 157, Bruce Richardson - design collections, and Jeff Gruenke - Wisconsin community strips.
* Twenty-seven collectors rented over 60 tables.
Kurt, his organizing committee, and Troop 144 did a great job! (The Troop did all the set up and tear down and were the main beneficiary- they also provided some great chicken and steak sandwiches for lunch) I’m hoping I’m stateside and can attend this great event next year. If I do attend next year hopefully I’ll remember to bring my camera!
Mark your calendars:
Midwest Tradefest
March 28, 2009
Madison, Wisconsin
