NARC 2010 Fall Swap Meet Report

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NARC FALL INDOOR SWAP MEET REPORT
Saturday October 23, 2010

St. Croix Lutheran High School
1200 Oakdale Avenue, West St. Paul, Minnesota
It was another good meet! Held a week or two earlier than in past years, the weather was great and there was a very good turnout. All the tables were sold except one, so there were lots of vendors with radios for sale and we counted 125 attendees.

As usual, sellers were let in before 8:00 am to get their tables set up prior to letting buyers in at 8:30. We get a few complaints about this every year; from sellers who want more set-up time, buyers who want to get in at the same time as sellers, people who think it should start earlier, and people who think it starts too early. Our goal is to make this an enjoyable event for everyone, but obviously it is sometimes impossible to make everyone happy. After considering all this, the officers believe that starting the meet earlier isn't beneficial to many and would make it more difficult for the regular attendees who travel that morning from distant places such as Austin, St. Cloud, Mora, Cohasset, Owatonna, Le Sueur, and Rochester. And, remembering the complaints we got from buyers prior to 2008 when we had a 1 hour set-up time, it seems the 1/2-hour set-up is the best compromise. If anyone has a good solution to make everyone happy, let us know!

The event ran smoothly thanks to those who helped. Mary was in charge of registration and quickly processed everyone through. Lynn and Kim Wagar brought the donuts and pop and did a nice job of keeping NARC members fed. Ed was missed as our announcer, but Alan stepped in and did a great job with this. A light lunch of hot dogs, chips, a cookie and a pop, was offered later in the morning and sold out, and getting a piece of a NARC 25th-Anniversary cake was a nice surprise.

The place got really busy as soon as the buyers were let in. There was a wide variety of items for sale, including paper, test equipment, advertising, and lots of radios. Sales were good for most sellers and I noticed that Robert MacIntyre, who had brought a carload from Winnipeg, had a much emptier car when he left. Don Sturzenbecher and wife Eileen were there again from Sioux Falls with some rare early battery sets, and there were many tables offering Bakelite and wood electric radios.

Possibly even more enjoyable than buying radios was getting the chance to visit with our collector friends. By noon, the buzz was dying down as sellers were packing up. The school custodian complimented us on how well the meet went and they are looking forward to us coming back again next fall.

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