A sports and outdoor show will be coming back to the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex next February.
This week, the Farm Show selected a potential promoter for the show, Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste announced Tuesday night at the State of the County Address. The complex currently is negotiating with that promoter and Haste expects a deal will soon be final.
The cancellation of the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in February cost the midstate an estimated $80 million. A new show at the Farm Show complex next year will generate at least that much, said Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste.
This new show will replace the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show, which was canceled this year after longtime promoter Reed Exhibits banned the sale or display of assault weapons many hundreds of vendors backed out. The cancellationcost the region an estimated $80 million.
The 2014 show should generate at least that much, if not more, Haste said.
After the cancellation, the county used $56,000 in tourism money to secure a deposit on the complex for the show's traditional week. Seventeen promotions companies from around the country submitted proposals to the Farm Show, Haste said. Reed was not among them.
In the process, the promoters told Farm Show officials that the outdoor show has been mismanaged in recent years, Haste said, limiting chances for growth. That will change next February, he said.
"We found out the show could have been better, and it will be." - Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste
"They heard from folks with really great ideas," Haste said. "We found out the show could have been better, and it will be."
Many vendors and longtime attendees said they would not return if an assault weapons ban remained in place. It will be up to the promoter to develop a policy for the display and sale of firearms, Haste said.
Gesturing to the Hilton Harrisburg ballroom where he gave his speech, Haste said there was not a person in the crowd who didn't know someone who had been impacted by the cancellation.
Seeing the list of potential promoters looking to get into business in the midstate showed how important and respected the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show had become, Haste said. The nine-day show was billed as the largest of its kind in North America.
It's too important to let that legacy go, Haste said.
But Haste did not need any reminding.
An outdoorsman himself, Haste said that the show folding this year "was like Christmas getting canceled.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments will be moderated. Anyone may comment.