Great show. Lousy attendance.
That sums up the feeling in a nutshell expressed by Battlefords Chamber of Commerce directors about the Best Business Showcase and Trade Fair that ran Oct. 24 to 26 at the NationsWEST Field House.
At their monthly directors meeting Tuesday, Chamber executive director Linda Machniak reported feedback on the event, with the field house venue itself seen as particularly positive.
By and large, most vendors reported a positive experience and wanted to be back at next year's event, Machniak told directors.
But the final overall attendance figure of 2,943 for the three days was an obvious concern for Machniak and the directors.
The attendance woes were particularly noticeable during the entertainment portions of the trade show held on the Crown Cab Stage. Featured presentations from the show's highly-touted line up of guest speakers including RiderGirl, journalist Richard Brown and major league pitcher Andrew Albers drew row upon row of empty seats at the stage during the three days.
One theory that has been going around has been that the price of admission of $7 per day was too high, depressing the attendance numbers. Machniak, however, said she is "not convinced that was the case."
Machniak said she leaned towards another theory - that people may have been under the impression it was a business-to-business show rather than an event open to the general public.
Directors at the meeting pointed to the advertising for the event and noted the words "trade fair" were not displayed prominently, perhaps adding to confusion from the public.
Ideas were floated about how to rectify the attendance situation for next year's event, such as perhaps introducing a three-day admission pass, adjusting the dates to Friday to Sunday instead of Thursday to Saturday, or even changing the name of the event to better appeal to the public.
The general feeling is the event will be fine-tuned for next year, with Chamber president Sharon Mohagen pointing to the encouraging comments about this year's show as a positive.
