Okay, so math isn?t my strong suit.
An area measuring 100 ft x 120 ft equals 12,000 sq. ft., not 1200. Oops!
My thinking on a swap meet is that it should take place fairly soon, like mid to late February or early March. That way, racers can get their set-ups and changes made in ample time before racing season starts. I felt an indoor even would be good so that we don?t have to worry much about snow and /or wind being a problem, minus another ?100-year blizzard.? Obviously, JB can have his any time he wants at Action Karting. I just thought that he may wish to hold it a bit later (late March ? early April) when weather may not be as big a factor.
I?m just throwing out ideas here.
We may find that holding this at the Merchandise Mart is a little more of a hassle than it?s worth. But it does look like we could get quite a bit for a relatively small investment. The space at the Mart I?ve been talking about is The Terrace Gardens, their smallest room at 12,000 sq ft which rents for $500 per day. Their web site suggests a capacity of 60 10? x 10? booths. If we have 60 people who show up as a seller paying just $4.17 each and we have 60 people show up as buyers also paying just $4.17 we?d break even. Anything above that, of course would be profit and then what do we do with that money? Maybe donating it to a charity would be a good way to go.
The Mart provides the following at no additional cost or fees:
Free parking,
Loading docks (3 street level and 3 truck height),
A reception/registration area,
Tables (4?, 6?, and 8?) uncovered/skirted,
Chairs,
Wastebaskets,
No rental charge for 1 day of move-in and set-up for decorators and exhibitors,
Cash & carry food service/concessions (this I need to clarify with them to see just what they mean),
Banners (hanging up to 5 banners, inside the hall and outside the building),
Daily cleaning of the hall and trash removal,
Carts provided at the dock for move-in and move-out,
Event directional signage for days of the event,
Easels (to the extent of their inventory),
Stages in varying heights (to the extent of their inventory),
Podiums (5 and/or to the extent of their inventory),
House sound/microphones (5 corded, 1 cordless lapel, 1 cordless handheld ? to the extent of their inventory),
2 portable sound systems (to the extent of their inventory),
1 ? 8? x 8? portable screen, 2 ? 10? x 10? portable screens (to the extent of their inventory),
Over-head projector (for transparencies only)
3 dry erase boards (to the extent of their inventory),
Electrical services provided for A/V needs.
This room is fully carpeted, so we would be required to lay down some visqueen under any karts to protect it. And, for some reason they do not allow children in the hall during set-up and break-down.
What I foresee, or maybe just wish for, is that we would quite possibly have more than 60 people who want to sell stuff. In that case, we could rent the hall for two days to allow for some to move out and others to move in, and have to come up with another $500 for the second day. Or we get the next possible bigger space, called The Mart Pavilion. Its size is 65,000 sq. ft. The big trouble is that it holds 328 ? 10? x 10? booths (unlikely we would get 328 exhibitors) and runs for a whooping $5,500 per day. CHOKE! CHOKE!
The Mart Pavilion has some advantages, like 3 drive-through overhead doors and concrete flooring (no visqeen required). It also has a reception/registration lobby with local phones, 3 private show offices, ample electrical service, wireless internet service and phone hook-ups in booth areas. But it may be difficult to make the rental fee fit everybody?s budget. If we had as many as 120 sellers and 120 buyers, we would have to come up with about $22.92 per person. Not a ton of money, but I just don?t think we would have that perfect of a turnout.
Of course, there are other places to hold a swap meet indoors, such as the Western Stock Show Complex. That is if there is enough agreement upon an indoor event in the first place.