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Eastern Meet Attendance Past and Present


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I want to put this out there, I am not fussing and I am not mad at anyone for what I'm about to say but I feel like it needs to be said. Yes this is calling some out and is gonna step on some toes. I've thought of posting this before but after a conversation today with someone i respect I feel better about it.

South East Members:  I can not count how many  times I've heard people gripe and complain about "all the meets are up north" Well at one time there were back to back north meets at times. That's not the case anymore. Since 2012, I have organized meets in Hiawassee  GA twice,  Kodak TN, and this year Bristol.  We have meets every other year below the Mason Dixon Line YOU NEED TO START COMING! This is a call to Attend, I am willing to organize a meeting every other year in your back door its time to show up. Guess who else organizes meets in the South? No one...No reason we can't have 20-25 members this year in Bristol.  If this low attendance trend continues unfortunately Meets will not continue to be held in these areas. 

Northeast Members :

I want you to Travel Outside of just relying on Carlisle every year for your Meet location. Travel to the official Eastern Meet down south, meet new faces and see a different town.  This will also help Our attendance.  I feel like the South locations do not draw enough interest from out northeast crowd and thats ashame! There are those of you who do Travel down and much appreciated for you to Join us.  One of the reasons I chose Bristol TN was to draw in more of You as it's further north than Hiawassee GA. Come on down you are welcome here! I practice what I preach here, I've been to many Northern Meets some 700 miles away i have the Long Distance plague to prove it, yall do the same😀

Midwest:

Step up and Organize an Event! The Club will support you for a mid western meet. I will be glad to answer any questions you have! STOP WAITING ON SOMEONE ELSE! Just Do it! 😀

 

I think that covers it 😉

 

 

 

 

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I had all intentions on coming down this year until the date changed to August.  I have confirmed reservations for that week and already paid for it and have a group also going with us so theres no way I can make it. Hopefully there will be another. Thank you for your hard work great job!

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When I plan the Western Meets I simply go where members will attend. Out West we have the same issue as the East with more attendance at the Northwest locations vs the Southwest. It simply means I plan meets in the Northwest more often. For all meets I market the heck out of it here and on social media. I send countless emails and private messages to people in the area of the meet in the hopes to get a few more people there and still sometimes the attendance isn’t too high for various reasons but we still have a good time. I love getting together with the FGMCC family whether it is 5 cars or 45 cars.

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This should not be a North-South East West conversation.  There are many people who have traveled from the north to some of the meets in the south just like there have been people who have traveled from the south to the north for a meet up there.  Many people traveled from the north for meets in Commerce, GA, Bristol TN, Kentucky and Charlotte, NC. I for one traveled to all of these so we have had members travel to the meets in the south just like Ronnie traveled to many meets in the north prior to his death and Jared Rich Richey, Jim Seyboldt, Jim and Aaron Crockett and Kevin Wiles have traveled to meets in the North (I know there are others.  The bottom line is there are some who are willing to travel to the meets.

Aaron (Canuck) and only Aaron has been running the Western Meets for years.  Aaron found in the west what we have found in the East.  Meets in the North West draw more members when held farther north than meets he held to the south part of the west.  This is what we had found  in the East.  The main reason these meets draw more attendance in the north is that is where the majority of our members live.  

It was decided quite a few years ago that due to the attendance figures we draw at our Carlisle, Pa. Eastern Meets that the East Meet would be held in Carlisle every other year.  Meets in Carlisle have always been our most successfully attended due to the location and the number of people living in the north east.  Back in the years when Andreas was the club president and I was vice president many members in the south requested more meets that they could more easily attend and it was decided back then that we should try some of our Eastern Meets in southern areas so that plan went into effect.  

For these shows in southern locations to be successful means we need more people from the southern areas to attend.  It takes a lot of work to plan a successful club Eastern or Western Meet and to do that and only have only 12 to 20 cars show up just doesn't make all the hard work worth it.  Not only the work, the cost of awards needs to be justified with member attendance.  To order awards where almost every member could have the ability to win an award just doesn't make sense financially.   Early on it is normal for a meet to draw a low number of members but we have had every other year meets in the south for enough years that we should be drawing a higher attendance for them, after all we started the every other year Eastern meets in the south because our members to the south said they wanted them.   Those in the south who attend the meets down there need to encourage others down there to attend in an effort to draw more people.  Again this should not be northern people putting people in the south down for not attending meets to the north just like it should not be people to the southern people putting people in the north for not attending.  

Like Aaron approaching people who have attended past Western Meets, I have done that for the Eastern Meets I have hosted.  I keep a spread sheet of Eastern Meets attendance from these meets I have hosted and send out informational emails encouraging these people to attend.  Promotion of meets you host helps increase attendance just like members in the area helps increase attendance. 

My point here is not to put anyone down.  I encourage our members to promote the meets in their areas, that is one reason our meets in the north have become as large as they have and more successful.  I don't think Jared's intent to put anyone down, I think he was just attempting to increase the attendance in Bristol to make the show more successful because it is a lot of work to plan a meet and attendance helps to make all of that work worth while.  I know the Bristol could become a more successful show because it offers free attendance to the on site drag races which in itself could help to increase attendance.

rob

 

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Rob,

If you read Jared's post he addressed south east club members first and called on them to attend. I will say that in the eastern meets I have attended in the south, Bristol, Hiawassee, there have been very few members in attendance from places in the northeast, which has more members in a confined area than the southern club members, who are more spread out. 

In that aspect is isn't a north/south east/west thing, its a distance thing. (In my opinion) While distance isn't an issue for me I can certainly understand that it is for some what with time off work, cost of gas and hotels, working around school kids and their schedules, etc. If you remember Rob, I had the exact same complaint some years ago and brought it to you. After roughly the same explanation I decided it was easier for me and my family just to accept that the shows are where they are and to try my best to attend if at all possible. Linda and I do whatever we have to do to make it to the eastern meet, regardless of location. That's how we support our club. 

Jared knows that the only reason Linda and I are not attending the eastern meet this year is because we are taking almost 3 weeks off to drive to the western meet. With that in mind i would encourage members to try to attend these meets. They are better with more members for starters, but also if the attendance goes too low they will not be held close to our southern members as nobody will want to put the work in without some kind of interest. If that happens it will truly become a club only for northern people, which isnt my view but it I have heard that excuse when trying to recruit members from Florida and other southern states. (I was told that twice by folks I tried, and failed, to recruit to the FGMCC)

 

So to mirror what both Jared and Rob are saying.... hope everyone that can make it to the eastern meet, does make it to the eastern meet. 

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Just an opinion from a relatively new member (1 year). First of all I am in agreement that attendance dictates all matters of a meet and club support is crucial to its existence. But a thought to remember is it’s not that a lot of us don’t want to go, it’s the fact that we want to go with our cars. We have so many members that are building there cars for just this reason, to show them off. If I show up in my Chevy Cruze I am not going to fit in on the road trips that are taken. Albeit I know from the group that there’s always room to jump in a member’s ride(to good of people here). But it’s not the same. I also know that the meet is about meeting all the great members of this group. That’s the part that puts me personally on the fence about going to Bristol or Carlisle. He.. I drove to St. Louis for fenders do driving is not the issue for me(both of them locations are closer then that). Financially. Where can you take a 3 or 4 day trip for a grand and do something that you REALLY enjoy. But yet I still hesitate because I want to go with my car. I don’t know. Just a random thought 

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Jim and Dennis, thank you for your input.  I understand the thoughts of some not wanting to attend without their cars, that said, the cars are a good reason to hold a meet but the real meat of a meet is the socializing while at the meet and at the hotel (aka bench racing).  Also among the members in attendance there is a lot of knowledge to gain in face to face talks.  Also the meets are a good venue to locate needed parts.

rob

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12 minutes ago, Dtret said:

But yet I still hesitate because I want to go with my car. I don’t know. 

I went to the Eastern meet in Carlisle without my car last year, and can honestly tell you that it was a great decision. Not once was I made to feel like I didn't belong, or left out of any activities. We didn't go on the cruise to the hospitals, but we literally just pulled into town about 15 minutes prior to the caravan leaving & we didn't know anybody yet. I'm certain if we had been there a couple of hours earlier, someone would have said to jump in their car. As far as taking my regular car to the fairgrounds, it was no big deal, we were able to park fairly close to the group (second day was better, because by then we sort of knew where we were.)

So get off the fence, enough people here will know you & you can always hop in my car if there's an event that includes some type of caravan. (so this is about the 15th time I've told you now, lol)

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43 minutes ago, cny first gen 71 said:

Heck Joe you certainly could have rode with us for sure. You could of helped push my car back to the hotel when it almost broke down 🤣🤣🤣

Hahaha, gee, sounds like a great offer!

You going to Carlisle this year, I didn't see your name on Rob's recent roster?

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2 hours ago, Rob Peters said:

Jim and Dennis, thank you for your input.  I understand the thoughts of some not wanting to attend without their cars, that said, the cars are a good reason to hold a meet but the real meat of a meet is the socializing while at the meet and at the hotel (aka bench racing).  Also among the members in attendance there is a lot of knowledge to gain in face to face talks.  Also the meets are a good venue to locate needed parts.

rob

I agree with you 100 percent. Which is why I remain on the fence about going 

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2 hours ago, jft69z said:

I went to the Eastern meet in Carlisle without my car last year, and can honestly tell you that it was a great decision. Not once was I made to feel like I didn't belong, or left out of any activities. We didn't go on the cruise to the hospitals, but we literally just pulled into town about 15 minutes prior to the caravan leaving & we didn't know anybody yet. I'm certain if we had been there a couple of hours earlier, someone would have said to jump in their car. As far as taking my regular car to the fairgrounds, it was no big deal, we were able to park fairly close to the group (second day was better, because by then we sort of knew where we were.)

So get off the fence, enough people here will know you & you can always hop in my car if there's an event that includes some type of caravan. (so this is about the 15th time I've told you now, lol)

Don’t make me break my fence. I know without asking that any of us could jump into any open seat in in any car. I know how the group operates and it mimics my thought process. I’m still deciding. By the way it’s probably been more than 15. Thank you

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We are still undecided about the Eastern Meet. Carlisle is out because that is my 55 years class reunion which is being held 5 miles form home and I am starting to really enjoy these things. I only had one good friend in high school but he has passed on and now I have more friends from my class than I had at both high schools I attended back in the early 60's. With my shoulder still recovering from reversed joint replacement I may not know until the end of May whether Bristol will be on the agenda. I have attended every Eastern Meet but the last one in Hiawassee and that was because of triple bypass surgery in June of that year. the first Eastern Meet I attended was Hiawassee and somehow we ended on the dragon tail in a rip roaring downpour of rain with the red clay running across the road. It rained so hard that when we arrived the car was clean of any red mud, in fact we never did see any red mud on the car just a damp trunk form a leaky rear window seal. That was the year Rick's car broke down and he arrived on a flat bed. His ignition switch went bad and since I built many of these switches for General Motors that he asked me if I could warranty it. LOL LOL LOL  I did disassemble the switch and showed him what failed.

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OMG I did the Dragon's Tail in the Monte from a Hiawassee meet as well. What a blast that was! That year everyone went to the casino and when the group turned to go there, I turned to hit the twisty roads of The Dragon. Well worth the time away from the main group. Of course, it wasn't raining at the time. 

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I just want to go to my first, no matter where. Was very ill last year. Or would have been there. Looking forward 👀 to Bristol. Taking off work...  long live the Monte ! ♥️ 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am not fully committed but will try to make the Easter meet.  Jared, hang in there.  It is all about location, location, location.  Carlisle is great because it is central to many FGMCC members and is a great site for a meet.  My Monte is almost done and I do have a trailer so in the future I plan some long drives.  I took my Monte to Charlotte over a decade ago.  Keep the faith brother.

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On 5/23/2021 at 9:48 PM, Katman said:

I am not fully committed but will try to make the Easter meet.  Jared, hang in there.  It is all about location, location, location.  Carlisle is great because it is central to many FGMCC members and is a great site for a meet.  My Monte is almost done and I do have a trailer so in the future I plan some long drives.  I took my Monte to Charlotte over a decade ago.  Keep the faith brother.

The more early on the more door prizes we will get. We have 16 confirmed. 

I never expect any Meet to be bigger than Carlisle but wait and see people who my friend Donny has told to join and come that live with 50 miles or Bristol Still won't show up! Lol They the same crowd who will say "maybe it'll come to (insert town or event here)"

 

Yes people please attend with or without your car. Sometimes it's nice to go to a show with no car and just relax. We have had 10 members in the past at some meets with no car.

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  • 2 months later...

We have 26 members on the list.  I'm happy with that.

2 had to drop because of surgery.  Would have been 28.

This should put us over 20 cars some are coming with no car

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