Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion The Iowa Gas and Bettendorf meets...A comparison?

Are there detailed photos posted somewhere showing us what showed up at the Bettendorf show?...both inside & outside,cars,pumps,oil cans etc?

The show was on the edge of the hotel property and was about 2 blocks from the front door of the hotels main entrance. The promotors had old John Deere tractors with people hauling trailers behind them going back and forth. You were also allowed to park near the show with your truck.

Thanks for the info, Ryan. John

It was located at a parking lot that was blocked off for a few food trucks and the car show. This was located right across from the Casino / Hotel which is on the river, great views.... parking with a shuttle was free and available to all that came. I took this photo a little after noon on Friday.... there wasn't too many cars there at that time. The vendors had room to park in an area just for them & then under the covered pavilion in the shade, the vendors had been arranged in long isles... $10.00 admission fee... it appeared to be well organized.. clean (always a bonus!)..... I'm glad that I did attend.

Damn, same here. I was the first six spots as soon as you entered. Just in the first row where the shuttle dropped you off (to the left). I had blue tarps with a bunch of signs and a trailer full of pumps. I was probably sitting there stuffing my face with cashews. Maybe next year.

I stopped by and spoke with you and another gentleman about the Mobil Filpruf bottles.... you recommend the BBQ from one of the vendors.... You where right.. good food!! Those girls can cook. You had quite a nice spread of items at your booth.

I want to be upfront that we come at these events from a different perspective. All sign shows are valuable to us as it serves as a drop off/pick up spot for auction items. As we all know, moving the things we love across the country can be a huge challenge. We attended both events and both were a success for us. I can understand the frustrations people have over trying to do both events, which can take up to 10 days. That's a lot of overhead to cover and most people can't take time off from their work life to be at the events during their peak time. We have to arrive early to events as we often have a significant amount of inventory to unload and get delivered to people. None of the vendors want to do that during "selling time", which I understand. Also, coordinating times with people to do pick ups is like wrangling cats, impossible.

We ran our first remote auction at Bettendorf, a new challenge for us. Like all first time events, there were some hiccups, but lots of things learned to improve it for next year. I hope both shows figure out a way to continue, as they both have value to the hobby. I don't have the solutions, but whatever is decided, we'll do our best to support both

Hi, Mike (or someone who was at the recent Bettendorf event). I would consider attending Bettendorf next year. Based on your term "remote auction" in your posting above, can you tell me where, in proximity to the swap meet the Richmond auction was held this year. And, would the location likely to be similar next year? I'm just trying to get a lay of the land for the swap meet, car show, hotel, and auction. Thanks. John

There is a convention center connected to the hotel, that is where it was. Everything is very close.

We just attended Iowa gas for our 4th straight year. We incorporated a vacation into the time we spent driving the 4000 miles (round trip) to the Iowa show. Every year has been a great experience for me and my wife. I will continue supporting Iowa Gas again next year as well.

We were not able to make it to the Bettendorf show, however, we did drive by the venue before everyone was set up. The covered vending area is always a plus when hosting an outdoor event in the summertime in the mid-west. The vending area was about a 2-block walk from the hotel, and the auction was about a 50-yard walk on an overhead foot bridge to the other side of the railroad tracks. It all looked like a good set up. From what I heard, the room-to-room vending didn't go well because the hotel has two towers and that made it hard for buyers to find the vendor rooms. This will be a learning curve for the promoter and maybe next year they will have specific rooms blocked off for room-to-room vendors.

That said I think we have many factors affecting what the Iowa show was 20 years ago, and what it is today. I would agree with the fact that the promoters could do a far better job reigning in the early vending. They did a better job on that this year, and there is always room for improvement. I myself bought good stuff on every day of the show and sold very well too. This year's show had a terrible windstorm in the middle of the night on Monday that affected anyone that was set up outside. Then at about 9am on Tuesday morning another bad storm moved in and left people scrambling to get their stuff put away. I know a few vendors suffered some damaged items because of these two events. I think this frustrated some of them, so they packed up and left which was very understandable. Another issue is as a buyer first and a vendor second, it's always hard with so many shows to come up with new items to bring to market. A lot more people are collecting these days and there are so many competing ways to find the items that we love so much. Many people Imo stay home and buy from auctions. A lot of the younger collectors don't realize you had to go to shows to find stuff or you sent a letter in the mail with a Polaroid photo, but now I'm dating myself. I may try to attend the Bettendorf show next year but if I do, it will be only as a buyer because both of these shows now for me compete with the Pacific Coast bash that I also attend in September.

Thanks for the excellent post, Anthony. Now I understand the layout of everything at Bettendorf much more clearly. Personally, one of the draws of Iowa Gas to me as a vendor is the indoor exhibit hall vending. I can set up and sell my goodies in air conditioned comfort. Plus no dust, no wind, no rain. I know having indoor vending available isn't important to every vendor, but it's essential for me. John

This past year was my 27th year for Iowa Gas and I've never had a problem buying or selling. I always get there on Sunday and leave on Wednesday plain and simple. As far as the show promoters go, I always have several conversations with Ron and John during my stay. And I don't need them to remember my name to feel important. My only issue is the hotel room rates are too steep for what you get. I had full intentions to go to Bettendorf but I got Covid at IG (for the 2nd time in 4 years) and couldn't attend. Those that didn't attend IG this year missed out because the dates didn't overlap. IG ended as Bettendorf was starting. I will support both shows in the coming years.