How was Expo??

[SpiderHelix]

Without an admission charge, I'll bet the West Chamber of Commerce could not even have Expo.

The money vendors pay for booth space goes to pay for the rental of the facility and the tent. Then there are charges from the decorator, salaries and race sanctioning fees.

$15 is not a lot to pay for racing and the Expo - it used to be $20.

Also, an "industry" night may sound like a good idea, but I'm betting the reality is few vendors would attend. Most would come to town later, or do their own thing after setting up. They had a meet and greet lunch years ago at Expo, just for this - only for vendors to meet other vendors. Very few attended. They didn't even care about the free lunch -

Wish they would have had a better band, because it was the slowest I have ever seen that bar. We stayed though - better than watching TV in the room. Plus, we were able to get a table this year

 

[Dam Dave]

Without an admission charge, I'll bet the West Chamber of Commerce could not even have Expo.

The money vendors pay for booth space goes to pay for the rental of the facility and the tent. Then there are charges from the decorator, salaries and race sanctioning fees.

$15 is not a lot to pay for racing and the Expo - it used to be $20.

I paid 15.00 just to get in the EXPO, if that was for the EXPO and the Racing no body told me, I could care less about the racing so why should I pay for that 15.00 to walk in a store is to much, plus I had to walk 6 blocks is slush just to get there. If the 15.00 covered both, it should be split up,

The SLC snow show was not 15.00 bucks, and its a little bigger I think, with lots better parking...........

 

[Dam Dave]

from there web site! I guess I did get ripped off, as I dont care about the racing.

"Admission: $15/Person under 12 free; Each ticket includes admission to the Exhibit Hall & all forms of racing. You will need a ticket for each day. Weekend passes are available."

 

[Clarke673]

Honestly, allot of the vendors didn't really help. I tried to but in and ask Slydog about some custom wheels and they were to busy talking to them selves to even give me a card, decal or a nod, so i walked on by. I had to wait 20+ minutes to ask a quick question on the Polaris’s that was not answered well (asked about the weight difference on a 09 dragon 163 to a 08 163, and i asked him what was the reasoning with Polaris going with a flat red on the assault and why the HUGE bumper on the trail sleds. (i got a lot of ummms and no real info)

The only booths that were really helpful were F-bombs, FXR, Articat, sled hut, and the Yamaha guys wouldn't let me leave.

 

[kssnow987]

We got a little smarter this year. Found nice rooms at the Yellowstone Park Inn ( 2 Rooms, each with one King bed, $ 53.00 per night for each) Great pizza and at the Wolf Brewery, Awesome steaks at Einos. Good food and service as long as you didn't eat at Expo Central. Races were good, wish racers had more time to see Expo. I'm just amazed Marge pulls it off every year. If She leaves it's dead for sure.

 

[racingpit]

I agree, Marge did a great job again this year. The racing was great as well. I had a great time meeting up with old friends that I see every year. I suggested that they look at bringing in a big band. The WSSRA did a great job again this year.

A big thank you goes out to my sponsors:

Golden West Motel, West Yellowstone, MT
Kekich Speed and Sport
Scott Goggles.

 

[MTdream]

well, I paid again, and again never even knew abotu the racing...

I spent my money with Rob, and RU outside...

I, like a LOT of people do not go to the show for the races, I go to see the aftermarket stuff, and get it, and I go to see some of the sleds, but this year, there was not much info from the sled booth dudes...

SO, if it does not change somehow (as in seperating racing and booth stuff) I think the show is in serious trouble....It used to be the WORLD snowmobile expo, and now it is a nice little show, and not many aftermarket folk...

it is simple economics, make it spendy for buyers to meet sellers, and not much selling happens...make it easy for buyers to get to sellers, and more selling happens...

I know sales for some were up, but the show as a whole has really been taprering off since I was a wee little lad...

 

[F-Bomb]

Marge always does a great job. She is nothing but excellent to work with! Marge is not the problem with EXPO. She is bucket bailing as fast as she can to keep the leaky ship floating. Trust me here there may not be an EXPO 09. There are all kinds of various reasons why the event is shrinking in popularity/attendance/money but only a couple of options to try to get the people back.

It will take a TEAM effort of the community, factories, aftermarket, racing, and recreational enthusiasts to get things back on track.

 

[Spud]

something needs to change for the Better!

we have gone EVERY year since the 1st one in 1991, since then up until 98 or 99, 20,000 guests would invade and roam around Expo. Now days it would be lucky to be 1000-2000 people coming to town. I guess nothing stays the same, Right!

I actually think that the new Expo home just might be JHole very soon...

I think Everyone still had a Good time though.

 

[SnoDmon]

ok Spud, I don't know about you and every1 else but Jackson Sucked with a capital "S" when i went there. i was 19 or 20 and couldn't get into a single establishment to eat what we wanted because of my age. i know WY has differnet laws but its total bs when all i wanted to do is get a burger at one of the bar/restuarnts you always see advertised. I hope its not the new expo location for i will never return to Jackson. the night we stayed there, our vehicle and trailer w/ sleds was towed. Wake up to that!!! our motel never told us not to park on that street, nor were there any f*****g signs! That was the year that i bought my sled, and after the morning tracking down what we thought was a stolen vehicle, we found my sled backed into a fence! I had big ideas of great fun b4 i went there. now when i think jackson, i think of all that crap and how Dubois was much better. Dubois, do i have that right, other side of Cont. Divide/Togwotee riding area?

Anyways, for expo:

DEFINATELY bring back the big air competion. This is where it all started was in West!

Also we need to bring back Slednecks and SCS racing to the vendor's show. These were big names and always fun to see the pros. We would spend hours just bs ing the SCS guys that we didn't even know, until about the last time they were there, we started recognizing each other.

Admission is a little steep. I was thinking it had been going up since i started going about 7 years ago. thought it was ten then twelve for a few years, now 15!

As for a band, that doesn't interest me a bit. I am of the younger generation, and I think if we are the age group to be targeted to be brought in, get a real band but then push away the mid aged and older people. who needs a band, we got sleds and they hit the notes i want to hear.

As for vendors in general, we do need more, but they have a good variaty. I was able to find the outer layer i wanted from To Be Technologies! Love the gear! I wore it two times on saturday, once in the day and the other at night, then turned around to wear it sunday. Special Thank goes out to To Be!
I went on to get a base layer from R.U. Outside. Nice and comfortable. Oh, and i shouldn't forget going back Sunday morning for their Balaclava, a life saver.
After I left their booth, I went and got a mid layer outfit from KLIM. which I wore their pants all night, even most of the drive back home.

Never have I ever came back after riding completely dry. Thanx to all these vendors, especially To Be for their great styles.

I saved $130 at To Be alone. Probably $200 or more if i added everything up. I wouldn't have got a deal like this without Expo!

Oh, and don't forget the Scott gloves. They had a nice booth and I will say they have the best gloves out of anyone. I always stock up on my favorite gloves from them.

The snow was awesome for this time of year and I for one had a blast!

 

[Spud]

get over JH & try it again...

SnoDmon, I bet you can polka perty good in your Tobe & Klim wear.

 

[speedemon]

i thought it was ok. lots of turbod sleds, everywhere you looked! im not complainin, i got a steal on some mountain machine wheels and a freedom axle! haha i like the 09 sleds!

 

[SnoDmon]

ya, polka some fine women. . .

i do like the, scratch that, love the togwotee area, but i don't want to feed that skier haven of JH. they cater to the skiers not us, except for the hillclimbs, im sure. if i go there again i'll drive through and stay at the Line Shack again, over near Dubois.

 

[Clarke673]

I got some good pics of the racing. Crapo should have had the race but o well. Hear is the winner as he takes the flag.

 

[racingpit]

I love the Expo, as I stated earlier.

I think it would be cool to get the WPSA guys out there racing during the Expo again. I think that the MWR guys could race during that time as well.



Jeff

 

[crossthis]

15/25 for hayday setp. 6-7

 

[dpsnodno]

Been going for the last ten or twelve years and have watched the decrease in attendance. Could be for a number of reasons.

Thanks to the Bush administration the economy just isn't that great and people are having to stretch the almighty dollar. Go ahead, use the word recession. Not too bad for people that are relatively close to the event but for the peeps from farther away it closes the door. You have to think about the travel costs involved. Some of the vendors come from the upper midwest (1000 miles with a trailer) with the cost of fuel at $4.00 a gallon. Gotta sell a lot of chit to make it worth the while. A lot of vendors quit coming because of the cost of getting there.

Personally, my expectations weren't all that high, made the best out of it and had a good time but ..................

Suggestions:

$15.00 a day for the EXPO and RACING isn't bad for somebody just coming for the day but drop the cost of weekend pass to maybe $30 or so. $45 just isn't a "deal" for anyone.

Better entertainment. Let's face it, the Soggy Bottom Boys were probably cheap but not all THAT.

Air Show is a plus, adds something to the weekend.

Event shirts and caps. ????????? Haven't seen them in the last couple of years but bought them when they were available.

The door prizes on Saturday night were also a nice touch. Also a good way to distribute some of the left over shirts and caps.

The Stagecoach really dropped the ball this year. No entertainment (well, little), closed downstairs, and the restaraunt didn't even have food for the weekend. What's up with that?

Thumbs up to Bullwinkles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just my opinion, nothing more, take it or leave it.

 

[05900]

Not many better than DNO to make a good time out a nothin!! Maybe next year.

 

[SnoDmon]

Another note:

We need to have the smaller manufacturers there too. You know Sno-Hawk/AD Boivin and Crazy Mountain Extreme. CMX used to come down. Surely they wouldn't sell much at $20k a sled, but show the product! Both companies make sweet sleds. (snow bikes?, or wutever you wanna call a Hawk)