This year's event is scheduled for July 19th & 20th in Camp Sherman. Roger sent out an email earlier this year and it looks like his biggest concern is
now breaking even. I remember when this was just a little show held at the old fire station on the road in to Camp Sherman. The next year it moved to the
school grounds and Roger and I had conversations on getting more attendees to participate. I recall my cell phone bill for one month was over $200.00!
The show has now grown into two days. But here is one of the problems. Roger is now losing money. There are a number of people who want the event to remain a bamboo only event. They don't want to see the graphite rods/ companies in attendance for whatever reason. But Roger is now in the position where he is looking for sponsors to help fund the event. He charges $50.00 a table per day but that still leaves him in the red. Where is the big money going to come from?
At the same time, we have noticed that the number of rod makers seems to decline every year. With the price of gas, and rod makers wanting to sell rods to make the trip worthwhile, how do we get them to attend and guarantee they can make money? After all, the theme of this event has always been about the bamboo rods and the gentlemen that make them. Myself, I have run about bit out of steam in terms of spending alot of time on the phone trying to convince people to make the committment to attend. I am looking for suggestions.
This year, I will be staying in a cabin on the river and sharing it with A.J. Thramer, Chet Croco and Joe from Bellinger, and Rick Sorenson from Westslope. We will all have tables as well. BTW, my website designer has rebuilt my webite to get rid of some bugs. There should be a new page under bamboo rods very soon describing my new line of LCT bamboo rods. I will have a full line up at Camp Sherman along with the glass rods.
Dan
Left Coast Tackle
The show has now grown into two days. But here is one of the problems. Roger is now losing money. There are a number of people who want the event to remain a bamboo only event. They don't want to see the graphite rods/ companies in attendance for whatever reason. But Roger is now in the position where he is looking for sponsors to help fund the event. He charges $50.00 a table per day but that still leaves him in the red. Where is the big money going to come from?
At the same time, we have noticed that the number of rod makers seems to decline every year. With the price of gas, and rod makers wanting to sell rods to make the trip worthwhile, how do we get them to attend and guarantee they can make money? After all, the theme of this event has always been about the bamboo rods and the gentlemen that make them. Myself, I have run about bit out of steam in terms of spending alot of time on the phone trying to convince people to make the committment to attend. I am looking for suggestions.
This year, I will be staying in a cabin on the river and sharing it with A.J. Thramer, Chet Croco and Joe from Bellinger, and Rick Sorenson from Westslope. We will all have tables as well. BTW, my website designer has rebuilt my webite to get rid of some bugs. There should be a new page under bamboo rods very soon describing my new line of LCT bamboo rods. I will have a full line up at Camp Sherman along with the glass rods.
Dan
Left Coast Tackle
