Thought it would be a good discussion topic for the site... what are your thoughts on the Iowa Gas 2015 show?
Pro(s)
Tons of vendors
Quality items & large variety
Good location & swap meet area
Con(s)
Start time/End time
Visitor parking/pickups
Vendor vehicle parking
I chose to go to Iowa Gas on Tuesday this year, as opposed to Wednesday in the past years. I always go to Iowa as a 1-day trip due to it falling in the middle of the week. The show was in full force by the time I got there at 8am Tuesday. I talked to some others and people had begun arriving as early as Saturday this year, with a good majority of vendors arriving by Sunday evening.
There was a great variety of petro at the show, many signs, gas pumps, oil cans, globes, neons, etc... something for everyone. There seemed to be more rare & quality signs than I remember in the past couple of years I have gone, however, I think sign asking prices were off the charts. Many signs priced at over two times what they would normally bring, in my opinion. I think this led to a lot of shoppers (including myself) to purchasing more globes & cans.
When speaking to multiple vendors Tuesday evening, the general consensus was that sales were somewhat low and that attendance was quite low as well (however, this was based off of Tuesday numbers, prior to the actual show date).
I loved the amount of vendors and the amount of goods brought to market by this show, and I can't wait to go back because you never know what is going to show up. Such a variety that it offers something to every level of collector, unlike some shows where you may not find many globes, cans, and/or pumps.
One complaint I have is something I noticed this year more than any other... and that is the amount of vendor spots filled with only parked vehicles and/or 1 or 2 items. This year, the Iowa show filled all of the available vendor spots... so surely there was a couple of people who would have preferred to setup that were unable to... but instead, someone paid the vendor fee so that they could have easy-access parking. (I might have even just setup for 1 day if I could have). It would be nice to see it enforced that people vending must offer items for sale and truly 'vend'.
Visitor parking is also an issue. The only options are to park on the surrounding streets, which becomes very congested. Or park in the airport overflow parking. Neither is good if you plan on buying anything large or have to make multiple trips back to your vehicle, and the swap area is off-limits for drive-in pickups.
I think the low attendance could be a result of the 'unofficial' start time of the show. Show is advertised for Weds-Fri, but really goes Sun-Weds? I saw people making purchases as early as Saturday night, and I saw one row of vendors completely empty by Thurs morning. I did not go to the auction, but I would think the attendance was low... everyone I talked to said they were not staying for the auction, cause by that time they'd been there for 5 days or more.
Regardless of the good & bad... its a show I will be sure to make it to every year.
What did everyone else think of Iowa?
