The year 2020 has not been kind to the Gonzaga show. Mother Nature has hit the show with weather events during the January and February shows. Neither weather event was bad enough to keep me from the shows but customers felt otherwise as evidenced by the crickets in the room during both shows.
There was some bad weather on the night before the January show but the day of the show, the weather was not bad at all and the roads were clear. I was told that folks living further north had to battle some ice. There were quite a few empty dealer tables during the January show.
Oddly, during the February show when the weather was much worse than January, I did not observe any empty dealer tables... just lots of empty space in front of the dealer tables where customers are normally located.
I loaded up my car about 6:45 a.m. Sunday and some light flurries started around the time I finished up. The snow never came down very hard during my drive up, so I was really surprised at the light attendance.
Needless to say, sales were flat. If it wasn't for George purchasing my 1957 Topps Hank Aaron and my 1953 Johnston Cookies Warren Spahn, I would not have made table fee. Thanks George! Purchases were flat as well. I bought a little stack of cards from Scotty P. Thanks Scotty!
Of the folks that did attend the show, I received quite a few compliments for my show last week at the Sal. Thanks guys.
I had a new customer from Green Bay who had some interesting stories about growing up in the late 1950's and early 1960's in the shadow of Lambeau Field. He said all the players lived in his neighborhood and that Vince Lombardi attended his church. He said all the kids collected football cards but none collected baseball cards. He never asked any of the players for autographs but many of his friends carried footballs door to door to get signed. At the Gonzaga show, he was working on completing his childhood football sets.
I noticed that dealer Larry Larsen was not at the show. Hope all is well with Larry who is one of my favorites and definitely one of the funniest guys I know.
Not much else to report. I started packing up at noon. The snow picked up as I was loading out and the drive home was a bit dicey. Man, I hope that we get a break for the March show! I was lucky with my show last week. Next week, I'm heading to Orland Park and hope the weather holds out for that one. Have a great week, see you in Orland!