A few thoughts on Columbus: I enjoy the show very much, and do everything I can to attend. I get to see a lot of friends, and some of the best petro stuff the hobby has to offer. I've always had a good time, and found nice pieces for my collection. Wouldn't miss it for the world. That said, I have to disagree with the above statements that seem to indicate less supervision and adherance to the schedule would make for a better show. Most people work Monday-Friday. I know more people would attend if the show was a weekend show - Friday A.M. set up (not before), have the 'show' on Saturday, with room-to-room on Friday evening and Saturday. Vendor spaces are open all day Saturday. Cap the show off with a Saturday night auction - if that doesn't suit the auction house, no auction at all. Does the show really need to be any longer than that? Every year, in an effort be the 'earlier bird', vendors show up and leave a little earlier, and the show sucks for the guy who can only get Friday off (if that) and has to drive 10 hours to get to the show. Also, this year some vendors apparently left the show early on Saturday to go to an auction somewhere else! Add to that an auction house moving their event up from Friday (as in previous years) to Thursday, and it's not a weekend show anymore. I just think the show would work better for everyone with the parameters were set as above and enforced. Have it all in black and white in the vendor agreement and the show advertisements, so there's no misunderstanding. To be fair, it's not only Columbus that has this problem. At every show I attend I hear the same complaints - "the show was supposed to start on _____, and everyone got here on ______". What's frustrating is that all this would be so easy to remedy with a little - well, a little discipline.
