Xenia

[KD8TUT]

So, who's planning to go to Hamvention this year?

I'm now very curious about how the Greene County Fairgrounds & Expo Center will work out. But somehow, "Xenia Hamvention" just doesn't sound right...

Glad I made at least one year at HARA.

Just the facilities at Xenia seem suspect. I go to a lot of horse shows/animal shows. We've got a fairgrounds here which is even larger than HARA or the smaller Xenia location. I wouldn't dare trying to have a hamfest there. As you might imagine the whole place has been inundated with dung. You can't wash that out. The smell always lingers.

While that's acceptable when they have the Berrien County Youth Fair (which is animal focused), it's a real turn off to think of eating a cheap pizza slice and viewing radios in that type of venue.

I'll know more the next time I attend. But at face value it's uninspiring.

[N8YX]

...As you might imagine the whole place has been inundated with dung. You can't wash that out. The smell always lingers...

I've been around animals in some capacity - farms, the wilderness, kennels, pet ownership, what have you - for practically my entire life.

I would far rather smell a pig farm or a skunk than I would an unwashed human body. The animal just does what the animal does, whereas people have direct control over their hygiene. At least the ones with any semblance of self do.

[W3WN]

Glad I made at least one year at HARA.

Just the facilities at Xenia seem suspect. I go to a lot of horse shows/animal shows. We've got a fairgrounds here which is even larger than HARA or the smaller Xenia location. I wouldn't dare trying to have a hamfest there. As you might imagine the whole place has been inundated with dung. You can't wash that out. The smell always lingers.

While that's acceptable when they have the Berrien County Youth Fair (which is animal focused), it's a real turn off to think of eating a cheap pizza slice and viewing radios in that type of venue.

I'll know more the next time I attend. But at face value it's uninspiring.

I'm glad I got to HARA once in the late 1980's, before things really went downhill. Watching it slowly fall apart over the last 20 years, and especially the last 5, has been... had been... sad.

But that's in the past now.

Regarding Xenia, you have to remember that the Greene County Fairgrounds was pretty much flattened by a tornado or weather event several years ago, and totally rebuilt from the ground up. So we're not talking about buildings that have been 'farmed' (farm-showed?) for 50 to 75 years.

What is really sad is that one W8JX is screaming long & loud that the GCFG is full of dung, used straw, and so forth. Of course, he knows this because... he lives nearby; he hasn't actually gone there and seen for himself. [ And frankly -- hi Frank! -- I'm getting a little tired of constantly being called (along with everyone else) a sheep to be sheared by DARA. ] It's pretty obvious his real gripe is with DARA, and he is going overboard to smear them, Hamvention, and anyone even thinking of going with the same stuff he alleges the buildings are full of.

We shall find out soon enough.

[N8YX]

...What is really sad is that one W8JX is screaming long & loud...

Let's just say that - in the grand scheme of things, and being as polite as one can - the old saw "Better to remain silent..." has never held truer for anyone I can remember. And not just about Dayton.

[KD8TUT]

I'm glad I got to HARA once in the late 1980's, before things really went downhill. Watching it slowly fall apart over the last 20 years, and especially the last 5, has been... had been... sad.

But that's in the past now.

Regarding Xenia, you have to remember that the Greene County Fairgrounds was pretty much flattened by a tornado or weather event several years ago, and totally rebuilt from the ground up. So we're not talking about buildings that have been 'farmed' (farm-showed?) for 50 to 75 years.

What is really sad is that one W8JX is screaming long & loud that the GCFG is full of dung, used straw, and so forth. Of course, he knows this because... he lives nearby; he hasn't actually gone there and seen for himself. [ And frankly -- hi Frank! -- I'm getting a little tired of constantly being called (along with everyone else) a sheep to be sheared by DARA. ] It's pretty obvious his real gripe is with DARA, and he is going overboard to smear them, Hamvention, and anyone even thinking of going with the same stuff he alleges the buildings are full of.

We shall find out soon enough.

I'm open minded. I'm also not parroting JX- my thoughts are my own.

My knowledge of the facilities issues surrounding Hamvention is limited to having attended once. Though that was a transcendent experience.

Part of my willingness to criticize the new venue comes from idolizing that arena since I was a kid. If Hara smelled like dung, I'd hardly have noticed. My dad used to show me pictures of Hamvention when I was little... and boy did I idolize that place and Hamvention in general.

So when I attended, I'm not sure I actually saw the state of the old facilities. I think I saw those pictures that were burned into my mind. Everyone else thought the place was falling down- I was walking through 1975.

Hara was such a part of amateur radio, it was Mecca. Just think of the mix of people who attended it over the years. The pedigree of those people is impeccable.

The legend of Hara is well earned. It's criticism compared to Xenia is simply mourning for what was... even if it wasn't near the end.

[K4PIH]

I'm glad I got to HARA once in the late 1980's, before things really went downhill. Watching it slowly fall apart over the last 20 years, and especially the last 5, has been... had been... sad.

But that's in the past now.

Regarding Xenia, you have to remember that the Greene County Fairgrounds was pretty much flattened by a tornado or weather event several years ago, and totally rebuilt from the ground up. So we're not talking about buildings that have been 'farmed' (farm-showed?) for 50 to 75 years.

What is really sad is that one W8JX is screaming long & loud that the GCFG is full of dung, used straw, and so forth. Of course, he knows this because... he lives nearby; he hasn't actually gone there and seen for himself. [ And frankly -- hi Frank! -- I'm getting a little tired of constantly being called (along with everyone else) a sheep to be sheared by DARA. ] It's pretty obvious his real gripe is with DARA, and he is going overboard to smear them, Hamvention, and anyone even thinking of going with the same stuff he alleges the buildings are full of.

We shall find out soon enough.

It takes a pile to recognize a pile, just saying!