August 29, 2010

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke

February 16, 2008

Dear Gun Show Participants:

I have felt the need to explain the conflicts in this years show schedule between the McMann’s Roadrunner Show dates and the Crossroads show dates. I have spoken with many of you at shows recently and some of you may have only heard parts of the story, or you may be completely unaware of what is going on. When planning our 2008 show dates I first consulted the major show calendars, last years calendars and with other promoters. Then, just to be sure I would not run into Crossroads with any of the new Tucson Expo Center show dates I checked with the Arizona State Fairgrounds and The Pima County Fairgrounds themselves to find out what dates they (Crossroads) were considering for 2008 shows. None of the dates that they traditionally used or had requested as of my contract signings in September were the same weekends as the dates I have booked. It was not until after our last show at The Expo Center in December that Crossroads released a new schedule with a Pima County Fairgrounds show on the same weekend. (Their ad from the inside cover of the November/December Big Show Journal “updated 09/18/07” clearly states in their own words “spring dates pending”) Is this intentional? Of course, it is. Did they purposely not tell exhibitors about the conflict at their January show to re-book their tables? Of course, they did.

Some people think that I should change our date because I am the “smaller” promoter, which is exactly why I cannot change the date. First off, the main reason I plan my schedule so far ahead is because just like many of you, I am a vendor also. Aside from McMann’s Roadrunner, I rent space at other types of shows and travel around, just like you, unpacking and repacking my merchandise, driving back and forth and trying to make a living. You may have noticed that McMann’s Roadrunner does not rake in a million dollars per show charging vendors $90 per table and charging the public over $20 to park and to get into the shows. That way they still have money left to buy merchandise when they get inside and the promoter is not the only one making money. I already have the majority of my 2009 dates booked because I have several other things scheduled around these dates. I am on an NRA committee, we attend the Annual NRA Meetings every year, and I have money paid out for entry fees, booth rental, motel rooms, and so forth. Besides, I did everything correctly, I planned ahead, I made sure the weekends were clear, and then I scheduled shows.

There is also a second conflict they created in September with the Tucson Convention Center show which my family has held on the same weekend for over 15 years. The TCC show is always the second weekend after Labor Day, the Crossroads Phoenix fairgrounds show is always the weekend after Labor Day.

Folks, I believe the only way to stop them is to not let them get away with it. Tyranny is not civilized business tactics and that is what they are doing. They tried to rent the facilities where we hold our shows out from underneath us and were turned away, so, they figure they will just destroy us. We need your support at these shows; please let us know if you will be at these shows as soon as possible so that we can plan accordingly. Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

Lori McMann

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” –Edmund Burke

March 15, 2008

The letter above was an initial letter that I published to Arizona exhibitors about the major conflicts in the show schedule in their state for this year. Shortly after it's distribution while at our show in Sacramento at Cal Expo, which incidentally Crossroads booked a show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco on top of, I was urged by several of the exhibitors there to broaden the geographical scope of this information. I have been told by numerous exhibitors that McMann's are not the only promoters being targeted, this is also being done in California to other promoters. Some have already given up, some are on the edge of bankruptcy. Keep in mind everybody, this is AMERICA!! No one "Big Business" should be able to legally or morally trample the "small business" out of business. If you are a California gun show attendee you will also see conflicts that arise each year in the schedule there. As with some of the Arizona dates, the Sacramento dates in January and March have been the same since the first show my Parents had as 49er Show Promoters with Russ & Sallie Nordyke in 1984. This show is always on the first weekend in January and the first weekend in March, every year for 24 years. Why would another promoter book another large show less than 200 miles away on the same weekend?? Our Ventura show dates are always out by May of the previous year, and low and behold by the beginning of the next year at some point there will be either a Costa Mesa or a Del Mar show on at least one of the same weekends. Again, another large show within 200 miles. There are 52 weekends in a year, we are using 8 of them in California, they can't book those shows on the other 44 weekends so that the exhibitors and spectators alike have more shows to attend and more opportunities to enjoy their interests? Think about this for a moment, if there is only one gun show promoter left, what is going to happen to the cost of attending a gun show? If you don't have a choice of who to rent tables from, they can charge as much as they want to for them. If there is only one show to go to, you would have to pay whatever their admission price is or not go to gun shows anymore, right? Send them your feedback, let them know how you feel about their practices. It can't harm anything, if they know enough people don't like it, they might stop.