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The Fly Fishing Show took root in Somerset, NJ this weekend. By my usual measure of success (How far from the door I have to park arriving at 10 AM on Sunday) this year must have been a rousing success for Chuck Furmsky as I hiked what seemed to be a quarter of a mile from my truck to the front door.
Many of the vendors I spoke with indicated that Somerset was the one show where they could count on selling enough to break even. Many of the exhibitors had excellent "Show" deals while prices for non close out type items were what you would expect to see at your local fly shop. Of course the real fun of these sort of things is prowling through the 50% of bins.
I'm not saying how much I spent or what I bought just yet but I will say that before I came home, I drove a half hour out of the way to a newly discovered Krispy Kreme to bring some Southen "non-Dunkin" donuts for the Editorial Trophy Wife. They might keep me out of the doghouse...
Chuck Furimsky, owner/operator of The Fly Fishing Show may well have something to smile about. We accosted him in the halls of his Somerset, NJ event and found out a few interesting facts about the fly fishing show scene.
How was attendance this year? According to Mr. Furimsky, Friday set an all time record for the Somerset show (which is his largest event). The packed house we saw on Saturday seemed to further back this up. When asked if he thought the strong attendance was a sign of an impending economic rebound he replied rather that people saw the $15 admission price for the show and over 60 fly fishing programs as a great value (a message that is front and center in this year's marketing material).
What about the whole AFFTA / Nielsen trade show drama this year? Mr. F just shook his head and indicated that he had pitched a Florida show proposal to AFFTA but couldn't get any traction with the AFFTA board (the same folks who had previously decided to go head to head with his consumer show in the Denver market). A big revelation about his proposal for the Florida show would have given free hotel rooms to the dealers. Something we have to think would have made it almost as popular as if they had given free rooms to the media types.
From our own point of view, the show felt successful. The dealers we spoke to seemed happy with the attendance, booths were packed, Lefty Kreh was in the house, and the cash registers appeared to be ringing sales. We even saw a few freshly purchased fly rods leaving the building. Lots of folks were giving show discounts and one rod company even offered our pal Pete a code to use if he wanted to purchase online later. Laissez les bon temps rouler? Maybe.
Thanks to Mr. Furimski for taking time to answer our questions. Just in case you ever thought being a fly fishing show mogul was easy, when we met up with Mr. F he was on his way to repair a wireless microphone and wondering why the local Goose Patrol hadn't gotten rid of the geese.
A few fellow anglers who we are planning on meeting up with at the Charlotte Fly Show. Sounds like it might be a wild ride. Also check out this article about Adam Paul of Greensboro, NC. Adam is the guy behind GillznFinz
