Hey Brenda - come on, I bet you never had to pay for your bar tab at the end of an evening??
Tactics, John, tactics . . . 8)
I think there was a fair amount of apprehension this year about SNF, due to many factors, including the weather at the event last year, the weather between home and the event, elections, gas prices, and other events like the Cub focus at Oshkosh. I can only comment from a spectator perspective but I think SNF is working to remedy what went wrong last year and identifying other areas for improvement. For instance, parking on Wednesday was . . . and experience. Thursday morning it was much better (a change from years past, but not the disaster that had us rolling through just about every parking lot but the right one). It is tough for an event to recover from the weather damages and the PR flap(s) surrounding how cleanup was handled. I respect the effort I have seen and wish SNF the best in building a great aviation event--it is an uphill battle for sure.
In years past, all major fly-ins have brought in the airshow focus to draw more local traffic. It is more predictable than fly-in traffic, and they buy event merchandise. It also exposes many people to aviation that may have not otherwise experienced it. However, it doesn't really help out the vendors who make significant investments in attending such shows. It's a tradeoff.
The attitudes seemed better, but my experience with past years is limited at best :roll: Several vendors commented that traffic seemed down, but, then again, if it is the RIGHT traffic then things are ok. I personally do not think it was a record year but again, I have little experience with good years at SNF . . .
Regardless of attendance numbers, it was great to see so many familiar faces and meet some new friends along the way. Airplane friends are the best!