Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion IOWA GAS

One more 1800 mile trip to Iowa gas will be my LAST, If THEY don't get more user friendly. Without the sellers / buyers, they have NOTHING.

Everyone who attends a petroliana show has an opinion on how good or bad the show was. Most opinions depend on if they were able to sell what they wanted to sell or they were able to find items they were looking for. As for the people who run these shows, remember they only provide a venue for you to buy or sell items. Some have more rules than others, but while I may not like the rules or the way they enforce them, it is their right to have the rules. This years Iowa Gas was great for me, I found all kinds of gas pump literature and spent a lot of money, probably too much money but I was happy. My only complaint was the weather, it either is too hot or it rains, wish they would do something about the weather.

Hi Dick,

I think Iowa Gas is a great event. Certainly it is not perfect, as no event is.
Share some specifics, some constructive criticism right here.
I'm sure Ron and John would listen with an open mind.



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Oldgas
Your host and moderator

No show is perfect, on this we all agree.
Let me offer up this suggestion. How about not having the set-up until Thursday like 7 P.M., then allow people to do the room to room on Thursday nite. Yes some small items will change hands, but most of us won't carry much from our trailers into the room.
That way Friday morning, it's hot and heavy for 4 or 5 hours, for dealers and the public, and then those of us who choose to, go home. Thursday morning was great for me, I did about $10,000 in signs and cans in about 3 hours, but after that it was absolutely dead and Friday morning was really slow also. I think the show could be cut down to Friday morning for the swap, that nite and the next day for the auction.
People have too much down time to get frustrated with the lack of traffic and then they blame it on the promoters.

I think Seth has a good point. It is very difficult to mix a vendor/buyer swap meet with an auction without one infringing on the success of the other. His schedule would make it better for all concerned.

Is there a reason for Iowa to be held offset from the weekend?? I haven't figured it out yet, but I was guessing that it was so the vendors could travel back on Sunday and not have to worry about getting back in time for Monday morning work -- but then you have to take off earlier the previous week anyways.

I guess I just got bitter because I dragged my dad down and he could only go Saturday. A nice 7 hour drive to the place left me a little embarrased as only the auction was going on. I figured there'd be some pumps on the concrete lot, but man, was I wrong.

If they're looking for pubic sales, a weekend-friendly event would be more appropriate. It was a long drive of 15 hours total to see not much of what I was looking for.