A long long overdue change of venue is finally happening for Hamvention 2017.
On Friday July 29th 2016, Hara Arena officially notified local media/customers that they are closing down for good.
No new site has been announced and DARA has assured on their website that they have a new venue that will be announced shortly.
News links:
http://www.whio.com/news/business/hara-arena-to-close/nr66C/
Venue Announcement:
http://hamvention.org/dayton-hamvention-2017-venue-announcement/
I’ve attended the Dayton Hamvention probably 4 or 5 times over the last 20 years or so, and it seems that the decision to move was taken out of the hands of the Hamvention organizers, so improvement in the quality of the venue seems unavoidable.
While I will miss the possibility of another Shit Volcano, maybe I’ll try going again. Still the ambiance created from the crappy HVAC, the sad, sad ceiling tiles and the general level of suck will.. be a great thing to never experience again.
Why they didn’t bail out on that shithole years ago is beyond me. I’d be happy to pay more for better amenities, better food and just better in general.
New location has been announced today…. Greene County Fairgrounds…..
https://dxengineering.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/hamvention-2017-to-be-held-at-greene-county-fairgrounds/
So the new venue is the Greene County fairgrounds in Xenia. You know, come for the tornado, stay for the Hamvention.
You may wish to check out their facilities:
http://www.greenecountyfairgrounds.com/rental-facilities
3 of the buildings have pens in them. And I don’t mean the writing kind. Hara will seem like the Ritz compared to this new venue.
Although the new venue created a new problem (and it’s why I’m just going to stay home today – didn’t see anything particularly appealing in the flea market, and don’t care to do 4 more hours of driving to maybe win something)… mud.
Protip: The grass racetrack infield is basically the worst place to put a flea market. When you’ve got tons of foot/hamabout traffic going through the infield, without any kind of grass protection, combined with thunderstorms… you’re going to get a soupy mess. I had mud up above my knees from mud splatter, yesterday.
Grass on-site parking is also an annoyance, but that’s at least understandable – I think there were other places they could’ve put the flea market. And, there was off-site parking, which I should’ve used yesterday, instead of inadvertently going muddin’ in my car.
Oh, and the HVAC was still crappy (or nonexistent, because much of the event was in barns). So, WA3YMH got to experience that if he went.