Pat –
I like your idea as well, and have thought about it many times myself. I have put on swap meets in the past for bicycle stuff (including VeloSwap in New England a few years ago), so have some experience. My advice would be to go with JB’s offer, and just have a contingency date for the weather. With the size of the karting community, we’d be doing well to get 20-25 tables the first time out, and in an isolated spot like Merchandise Mart we’d just be talking amongst ourselves. Like JB says, he’ll have a ready audience of renters. There are other promotional opportunities there too, like bringing in a radio station to broadcast on site, etc., plus we could make it a karting “expo” and do new karter seminars or product seminars. It would be a better overall deal for promotion, and to keep more money in the family.
One additional suggestion for JB – let the other tracks have a booth there too (even George!). Co-promotion at all the tracks would help too. The more karters in this state, the better.
I’d suggest booth prices at $15-$20 for individuals, and $50-$75 for businesses. That’s way cheaper than VeloSwap, and should give JB additional financial incentive.
We can think bigger in the longer term, even hosting a national class expo in Greeley, for example, but let’s get some experience first.
Pat – PM me if you’d like to talk more. Thanks for the post, and for all of your investigation so far.