Chamber cancels ?10 Sportsman?s Show

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

The Onaway Sportsman?s Show has been canceled due to a lack of interest from vendors, according to Onaway Area Chamber of Commerce executive director Bev Brougham. The decision to cancel the event, which was conducted during the Thanksgiving weekend the last two years, was made by the chamber board Nov. 11.

?We had commitments from all of our vendors that they would be back,? said Brougham. ?We sent out the vendor applications, and invitations, to more than 120 people, including last year?s.?

Brougham said the applications went out in August with an October deadline for a reduced rate. ?We just didn?t get anything back, so we phoned several of them,? Brougham continued. ?Most of them said they were still thinking about it ? so we hung in there.? In the middle of October, the chamber sent out some e-mails and didn?t get any replies.

WITH THREE vendors canceling on Nov. 9, and only nine committed to appear at the show, the chamber called a meeting to address the situation and decided it couldn?t proceed further.

?There comes a point in time when you?ve got to pull the plug,? said Brougham. ?It?s expense to us, it?s not a money maker. A lot of our expense goes to advertising.? There was a push for vendors on an area radio station in recent weeks, but still to no avail. ?The show costs us a few thousand dollars in up front costs to produce and this year the pipe and drape company imposed a minimum cost that would have increased those dollars considerably,? said Brougham. ?Our board felt this would not be fair to the members if all of their support went to one event that would not pay fo

r itself.? Chamber members have noticed this past year that all of their event participation was down.

?The duck raffle that supports the fireworks was down, the Texas Hold ’em tournaments had only half the participants they used to bring, even the Fourth of July events such as the tent dance were down,? said Brougham.

?While the purpose of the chamber is not to make money it is to bring people to our town and area. We cannot continue to spend the member dollars on activities that do not produce. By canceling two weeks ahead we have a few dollars left to consider one more try next year.?

Attendance was down slightly in from 1,500 in 2008 to 1,200 in ?09. The chamber brought the event back in 2008 after a one-year hiatus in another county.