[Fourlanders] Huntsville and Shelby Hamfests

[Charles Osborne]

Interesting new twist in the Shelby Hamfest upcoming. The Fairgrounds 
manager resigned a little over a week ago ( July 19 th ).

http://www.shelbystar.com/news/local/fairgrounds-manager-resigns-updated-1.174519?tc=obinsite

Sounds like he was doing a pretty good job for two years, but has too many 
other irons in the fire. Hope they replace him quickly. With all the rain 
they've been getting ( as much as 10" Saturday ) the fields will be back in 
the cut it or bale it mode if somebody doesn't stay on top of it.

The rain is what got me looking in Shelby Star newspaper. It was a sidebar 
on one of the weather channels. I-85 was even closed for a few hours due to 
the rain and flooding yesterday around Charlotte. And the Shelby newspaper 
had a number of side roads shown where the culverts and road had washed out. 
So if you take back roads to the hamfest as a shortcut, instead of direct 
I-85 / NC-74, you could run into a detour.

http://www.shelbystar.com/news/local/photos-cleveland-county-flooding-1.178837

Hope the rain gets it out of its system by hamfest time. Of course I don't 
care for blazing hot and steamy either. But that's more the norm for Shelby.

73,
Charles
K4CSO

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Rogers" <ww8rr at charter.net>
To: "'Charles Osborne'" <k4cso at charter.net>; "'Fourlanders Contest Group'" 
<fourlanders at contesting.com>
Cc: "'Dexter McIntyre W4DEX'" <dexter.mc at gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 7:50 PM
Subject: RE: [Fourlanders] Huntsville and Shelby Hamfests


> Hey Charles.......TNX for the Point Guard scouting report. Your 
> observations
> do make it look like some detail is being put into the Fairgrounds.
>
> Like you, one of my biggest bitches was the tall, chigger infested, none
> manicured fields where parking and bone yard spillover took place.
>
> If we have rain, then you put up with infield swap-like conditions..... 
> and
> the barns are sweltering with humidity and tight isles with the battery
> powered scooters bumping into everyone's ankles. At least in the 
> Equestrian
> park stable area, you had breeze....
>
> I'm not a camper or owner of motor home, but I would think Allllll of 
> those
> people hate going back to the fairgrounds after hooking up to all those 
> NICE
> RV sites that all had been installed as part of the incentive package to
> move the Hamfest to Dallas.
>
> Well, we will see......
>
> Wonder if the fair board still is chasing that previous grandiose plan of 
> an
> on site 300 room hotel and convention center at the fair grounds ??!! 
> <grin>
>
>
> Ron
> WW8RR
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charles Osborne [mailto:k4cso at charter.net]
> Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 6:47 PM
> To: Fourlanders Contest Group; Ron Rogers
> Cc: Dexter McIntyre W4DEX
> Subject: Re: [Fourlanders] Huntsville and Shelby Hamfests
>
> 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
>