With the Vancouver International Motorcycle Show coming up soon, I've been reminded of something that really grinds my gears. First off, all of the Vancouver RV shows, Vancouver Boat shows, Vancouver home shows etc, are all held in Abbotsford. Why can't Abbotsford take any credit for hosting these shows, some of which get hundreds of thousand of people, per day? But that is not what pisses me off. It's the shows themselves. They aren't shows, they are showrooms.
Once upon a time, shows had something to show. A form of entertainment, or something unique, or different, that people might want to see. If the show was good enough people might actually pay to see it. Think of an old car show. Hundreds of old, unique, custom, and interesting cars. People would spend thousands of hours and thousands of dollars modifying and restoring their cars, to make them one of a kind. Once they were done, being proud of what they had accomplished, with all their blood, sweat and tears, they decided to put them on display, so people could enjoy their works of art. Sometimes, if the cars were really special, they would charge a small entry fee to view the cars. That would usually help cover the costs of putting on the show, and maybe give a couple of awards to the people who had the most impressive cars.
A couple years ago, I went to the Vancouver International Motorcycle Show. I had never been before, or to any major show like it. I was excited. There was literally hundreds of thousands of people that attended each day of the event. It was $12 to get in, which I thought was a bit steep, but the show would be amazing, right? When I got inside, I felt lost. I kept looking for the rest of the show, but never found it. The main buildings were all filled with the local motorcycle dealers. Each dealer had huge displays of all of their current models of bikes. Kawasaki was there with their brand new ZX-10, KX250F, and KLR650. Honda had their CBR600, Shadow and CRF450F setup etc. All the major manufactures had huge floor space tied up with, bone stock, new motorcycles, that you could walk into any dealership and view...for free. The smaller booths setup at the show, were smaller companies, trying to sell you everything from motorcycle riding gear, to motorcycle tools, to food, to motorcycle DVDs. Some stuff was being sold at a bit of a discount, for the "motorcycle show pricing" which was usually 10-20% off. But there was no deals on any of the bikes for sale. I think in total there was 4 or 5 "custom" bikes at the show. The rest could have been viewed at any dealership, any day of the week, free of charge. Why was I paying $12 to look at bikes I can see for free?
The following year, I went back. Not by choice, and I didn't pay to get in. I was working in a booth at the show. One of the Riding clubs I ride in, had a small booth in the back, and was also putting on a show at the event. Our club go the go ahead to hold a couple small races outside, to entertain the crowd, and get some publicity for out club. We were not paid to put on the shows, and we did have to pay a large fee to have a booth at the show.
So whoever is running the event, is collecting huge money from all of the vendors, that want to setup displays, which can have anything in it, even if it doesn't have anything to do with motorcycles. They also collect $12 from hundreds of thousands of people to view these displays. And yet the person putting on the event, doesn't have to put on a show, they just get people to do a couple of lame demos, for free.
If you want to me go view all the new motorcycles, in hopes that I buy one, you should pay me, or at least let me do it for free. Also if you are going to collect millions of dollars, from people wanting to see a show, shouldn't you be paying the people putting on the show?
And all the shows are the same. They have home shows, RV shows, boat shows, womens shows, christmas shows, etc, etc, and every single one is full of vendors trying to sell you their shit. Shit you can see in their stores for free.
I mean cudos to the smart son of bitch that thought this jem up. Have a "show" where people pay to get in, to view shit that the vendors pay you to display. Well done, but I want my $12 back.
