[Fourlanders] Huntsville and Shelby Hamfests

[Charles Osborne]

I drove thru the Shelby old Fairgrounds site on Saturday. I was getting my 
BridgesBBQ fix. I stop by there anytime I'm headed to or from NC and timing 
is right. But I too was curious about the Fairgrounds so stopped by and gate 
was open so I drove around.

It looked the best it has in years as far as being clean, painted, and well 
mowed.

They were locked into a five year contract at Dallas. That was up for 
renewal. So Shelby was making every effort this time to get them back.

One issue I had with the situation before the move to Dallas NC, was the 
grass in the past would be bush hogged two or three times a year and still 
was quite tall out in the parking areas. In past it was tall enough to bale 
for hay (if they had been so inclined) when they did this, so left quite a 
mess for vendors and people walking/wading thru it to their cars.  Fire ants 
too were no fun if you happened to get a spot that was "owned" by them. But 
that was true at Dallas too.

Last weekend it was well mowed like most yards without a lot of it left on 
top. So they must be making an effort to mow more often.

Roads were just as they were five years ago, sort of a patchwork of patches. 
But minimal changes in layout. The RV hookups adjacent to the racetrack were 
blocked by some disassembled aluminum grandstands and fence changes in that 
area. So maybe they'll get that fixed by Hamfest. That's only about six or 
eight RV spaces anyway. There are a lot of RV spaces spread out all over the 
Fairgrounds and outlying areas.

I couldn't report on bathroom situation as they were padlocked. The infield 
bathroom where showers were located, did have a demand type propane hot 
water heater mounted on the wall outside. So that probably means it can keep 
up with continuous showers better. ie no more cold showers. Bathroom 
situation at Dallas was worse than Shelby in my opinion. Dangerously hot 
inside, few stalls, one sink, no soap or paper towels. No showers.

I guess we'll see how they deal with early access and other issues. Dallas 
had more trees and a fairly nice layout. But all the clubs participated in 
the "land rush" they called it, the weekend before. So count the trees as 
not available to anyone who got there mid week. Meaning having more trees 
did nothing for me except making shopping more comfortable at a few vendor's 
spaces. Shelby therefore should be similar to years ago. I was expecting the 
hotel situation to be much worse than Dallas. That's one reason I was 
scoping out the changes in case I had to camp out.

I usually get there Thursday evening and stay thru till Saturday about 5pm 
or 6pm and then head up to my brother's place north of Greensboro for the 
holiday.

73,
Charles
K4CSO

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Rogers" <ww8rr at charter.net>
To: <w4kxy at bellsouth.net>; "Fourlanders Contest Group" 
<fourlanders at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 8:37 AM
Subject: Re: [Fourlanders] Huntsville and Shelby Hamfests


>I plan to attend both.
>
> Shelby > Since we usually go up to the Winston-Salem area to visit Jim and
> Jenn on Labor Day weekends, taking in Shelby is just part of the schedule.
>
> Since we drive up to Shelby on Friday night and stay at a hotel, I tried 
> to
> make a reservation at the Holiday Inn right in Shelby 2 weeks ago but it 
> was
> BOOKED UP already. So I got reservations out at Kings Mountain now.
>
> I'm curious to see how the hamfest looks this year back at the 
> fairgrounds.
> I rather suspicion that the County Commissioners, Chamber of Commerce, 
> etc.
> put a LOT of heat on the Fair Board to get that event back to 
> Shelby.....who
> knows, maybe the radio club is getting it for free for a couple of years
> now.
>
> Huntsville > Yes, I plan to go to Huntsville also, although not sure of
> travel plans right now. Weeks ago on July 3rd I tried to make reservations
> for Darlene and myself at the Embassy Suites as usual. But the block of
> rooms at the hamfest rate of $112 were already booked and I'll be damned 
> if
> I'm going to pay $279 normal rate each night for a room there. So not sure
> what we will do now.
>
> Ron
> WW8RR