The weekend itinerary called for Green Bay on Saturday, October 17, 2015, and Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale, Illinois, on Sunday, October 18, 2015. I have never set up in Green Bay before and was looking forward to the show. I had only been to Green Bay once before -- 17 years ago on my one-year wedding anniversary. The wife and I decided we would celebrate our first year as newlyweds by taking a week trip around Lake Michigan. We drove from our house in Chicago around the lake to New Buffalo, Michigan, then worked our way north to Mackinac Island. We then drove west across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and camped at an old mining town on the very top of Lake Michigan. We then worked our way down through Wisconsin and stopped off at Green Bay. We walked around Lambeau and continued south to Chicago. It was a great trip but we did not spend a whole lot of time in Green Bay.
I woke at 4 a.m. on the morning of the show and was out of the house by 5 a.m. Three hours later, I arrived in Green Bay. The show was slated for the Green Bay Distillery on McCarthy Way. Unfortunately, McCarthy Way did not register on my GPS. I remembered promoter Mike Johnson saying the show was across from Lambeau so I drove around the stadium looking for McCarthey Way. I could not find it.
I resorted to asking Siri on my iPhone. The Green Bay Distillery popped up but on a different street. I popped the address into the GPS and was promptly taken to an industrial area well south of Lambeau. I tried Siri again and navigated my way toward the Green Bay Distillery by the map Siri provided. The Distillery showed up on the map as a red flag. My car showed up as a blue dot and I could see the dot moving and eventually pass McCarthy Way. I doubled back, found the street and the distillery. Oh my.
I arrived at 8:30 a.m., the show did not open till 10 a.m, so I was there in plenty of time. The Green Bay Distillery is located about a block east of Lambeau and across from the Don Hudson Center, the Packers' practice facility. See photo above. It was freezing cold out, about 28 degrees. There were snow flurries. Yet, the first dealer I saw was wearing a tank top, shorts and sandles. I had on a hat and winter coat and I was still cold.
Cold weather aside, the Green Bay Distillery is huge. Staff was setting up for a wedding in the main ballroom. The card show was loaded in the game room area. There was also a sizeable bar and seating area. The room was filled with large flat screen TVs. I put out four display cases and some baseball and football binders. Folks started to trickle in around 10. Mike put some classified ads in the local papers which brought out my first customer who was working on 1957 Topps football.
My next customer was a Detroit Tigers and Lions fan. We did some cash and trade deals. Dealer Bill Nest made my day. He is building sets for a customer and found quite a few cards at my table. Thanks Bill! I spent most of the day watching the Wisconsin/Purdue and Northwestern/Iowa college football games. I enjoyed a bowl of chili and some coffee. The bar offered free shots whenever Wisconsin scored a touchdown. Bill grabbed a free shot. I would have partook but I had a three-hour drive home to consider. Below is a picture of the show.
I woke at 4 a.m. on the morning of the show and was out of the house by 5 a.m. Three hours later, I arrived in Green Bay. The show was slated for the Green Bay Distillery on McCarthy Way. Unfortunately, McCarthy Way did not register on my GPS. I remembered promoter Mike Johnson saying the show was across from Lambeau so I drove around the stadium looking for McCarthey Way. I could not find it.
I resorted to asking Siri on my iPhone. The Green Bay Distillery popped up but on a different street. I popped the address into the GPS and was promptly taken to an industrial area well south of Lambeau. I tried Siri again and navigated my way toward the Green Bay Distillery by the map Siri provided. The Distillery showed up on the map as a red flag. My car showed up as a blue dot and I could see the dot moving and eventually pass McCarthy Way. I doubled back, found the street and the distillery. Oh my.
I arrived at 8:30 a.m., the show did not open till 10 a.m, so I was there in plenty of time. The Green Bay Distillery is located about a block east of Lambeau and across from the Don Hudson Center, the Packers' practice facility. See photo above. It was freezing cold out, about 28 degrees. There were snow flurries. Yet, the first dealer I saw was wearing a tank top, shorts and sandles. I had on a hat and winter coat and I was still cold.
Cold weather aside, the Green Bay Distillery is huge. Staff was setting up for a wedding in the main ballroom. The card show was loaded in the game room area. There was also a sizeable bar and seating area. The room was filled with large flat screen TVs. I put out four display cases and some baseball and football binders. Folks started to trickle in around 10. Mike put some classified ads in the local papers which brought out my first customer who was working on 1957 Topps football.
My next customer was a Detroit Tigers and Lions fan. We did some cash and trade deals. Dealer Bill Nest made my day. He is building sets for a customer and found quite a few cards at my table. Thanks Bill! I spent most of the day watching the Wisconsin/Purdue and Northwestern/Iowa college football games. I enjoyed a bowl of chili and some coffee. The bar offered free shots whenever Wisconsin scored a touchdown. Bill grabbed a free shot. I would have partook but I had a three-hour drive home to consider. Below is a picture of the show.
Former Packer tight end Marv Fleming was hanging out at the bar. He came by and checked out our little card show. I did not know who he was when he was standing at my table looking at my display cases. I figured he was a former athlete. He looks in pretty good shape for a guy who played for Lombardi in the 1960s. Mike knew who he was right away and started to talk to him. Pretty cool.
I had time to check out the other dealers who had quite a few Packers and Badgers items. One dealer had coins, knives and arrow heads. There were some wax guys as well. Mike always has excellent stuff. He had a nice 1961 Topps baseball complete set for sale. I wish I had the funds to pull the trigger on that one. He will probably have it this Sunday at my show at the Clarion. He also had a box of pristine 1962 Topps Football cards with about six Jim Brown cards and three Ernie Davis cards. Drool.
I left around 3 p.m. and made it home around 6 p.m. I passed out pretty early and was up at 6 a.m. on Sunday October 18, 2015. I was moving kind of slow and was a little late to the Bloomingdale show, pictured below. I brought out all my binders but did not put out any display cases. All the binders alone take up three 8-foot tables. I had a steady stream of guys purchasing cards most of the day. The guy from last month picked up more '65s. A new customer said he was working on a high-grade '65 set and found some cards. Randy picked up some stuff. Derek purchased a 1969 Topps Roberto Clemente and Willie Mays. Thanks Derek. Several other customers made some nice purchases and my day was done.
I had time to check out the other dealers who had quite a few Packers and Badgers items. One dealer had coins, knives and arrow heads. There were some wax guys as well. Mike always has excellent stuff. He had a nice 1961 Topps baseball complete set for sale. I wish I had the funds to pull the trigger on that one. He will probably have it this Sunday at my show at the Clarion. He also had a box of pristine 1962 Topps Football cards with about six Jim Brown cards and three Ernie Davis cards. Drool.
I left around 3 p.m. and made it home around 6 p.m. I passed out pretty early and was up at 6 a.m. on Sunday October 18, 2015. I was moving kind of slow and was a little late to the Bloomingdale show, pictured below. I brought out all my binders but did not put out any display cases. All the binders alone take up three 8-foot tables. I had a steady stream of guys purchasing cards most of the day. The guy from last month picked up more '65s. A new customer said he was working on a high-grade '65 set and found some cards. Randy picked up some stuff. Derek purchased a 1969 Topps Roberto Clemente and Willie Mays. Thanks Derek. Several other customers made some nice purchases and my day was done.
The weekend kind of flew by. Not a whole lot of purchases to report or anything out of the ordinary. I have been working this week on my 1969 binder. I should have it out on Saturday in Fort Wayne. My show at the Clarion is set for Sunday. We will have another nice group of dealers. I will bring out oa TON of stuff once again. Hope you can make my show on Sunday!
Thanks for the texts and emails expressing condolences for the Cubs. It was fun while it lasted. They obviously need some pitching. Hopefully, Theo can get the Cubs some fresh arms. The future looks good for the Cubs... I don't know about any of the other Chicago sports teams. It is going to be a long winter! Oh yeah, come out to my show on Sunday at the Clarion, 5311 S. Howell, in Milwaukee!!!
Thanks for the texts and emails expressing condolences for the Cubs. It was fun while it lasted. They obviously need some pitching. Hopefully, Theo can get the Cubs some fresh arms. The future looks good for the Cubs... I don't know about any of the other Chicago sports teams. It is going to be a long winter! Oh yeah, come out to my show on Sunday at the Clarion, 5311 S. Howell, in Milwaukee!!!
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