My hopes were dashed

I got my hope up the other day, when @ka3drr tweeted:

Scot R. Morrison @ka3drr
Will Dayton Hamvention 2K15 have a venue? Read on… #hamradio mydaytondailynews.com/news/news/hara…

This tweet links to a news story that details the financial problems that the owners of Hara Arena—the 50-year-old home of the Dayton Hamvention—are having. Public records show that they are nearly $400,000 behind on their property tax payments. No wonder Hara is in such terrible shape!

The article quotes Karen Wampler, Hara’s director of marketing and a member of the family that built Hara. “[She] said part of the arena’s challenges include a lack of renovation and deferred maintenance. The family, she said, cares about the facility but is limited in what they can afford.”

My question is how can they NOT afford to maintain that facility and still keep it viable? I’ve written before about how I think that the Hamvention should find a new venue, and after reading this story, I got my hopes up that perhaps Hamvention would soon be moving. I think that amateur radio’s premier event deserves a lot better than the crumbling Hara Arena.

Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed when @ke9v tweeted:

Jeff Davis @ke9v
@kb6nu @ka3drr @KD8SRF @hamvention arrl.org/news/hamventio…

This tweet links to an ARRL news story that says, “Despite financial struggles dogging the owners of Hara Arena, site of the Dayton Hamvention® since the 1960s, the 2015 Hamvention General Chairman Jim Tiderman, N8IDS, has told ARRL that he expects the world’s largest Amateur Radio show to continue there — this May and in the years ahead.” Ugggh.

I can see where the Hamvention really has no choice this year, but seriously, amateur radio deserves better. I know that “Dayton” is about a lot more than the venue, but if you were an outsider, what kind of impression would you have of our hobby when you learned that the #1 amateur radio event in the world was held in a place like Hara?

You can bet that I’ll be there again this year, but you can also bet that I’ll be hoping that some day Hamvention finds a venue that hams actually look forward to going to and not one that they grudgingly endure.

Bill Cahill says

January 6, 2015 at 4:52 pm

I know Hara is a dump. It didn’t have to be but it is. And it’s unfortunate. As long as Hamvention is there I will still go, as I go to attend a radio convention and see old friends, not to study architecture. I have written extensively about this on my blog (http://ad8bc.com/bc/?p=272) but in summary:
Hamvention grew into the Hara Arena. If the place was spruced up, it would be the absolute perfect location. It’s cheap enough for a volunteer group to rent every year and cheap enough to keep admission costs low. It’s union free, so that the vendors don’t need to pay a union employee to push the pallets and set up the booths (or God help us, set up an EZ-UP tent in the flea market). It has enough room for the flea market, enough inside spots for the exhibits, and enough nearby (or shuttle) parking at reasonable costs to compensate for the fact that the arena parking lot is covered in old ham gear and old police lights. The concessions are operated by volunteer groups so they are not a cost/profit center to worry about. And it’s close enough to Dayton for the Dayton Amateur Radio Association to operate it with the smallest expense possible. Because these are volunteers on a budget, the Hara Arena just may be the best possible place, even with all of it’s faults and the image that it projects. Of course, the place has become legend, to the point where it’s almost fun to go there and see how far it has deteriorated.

However, the Hara Arena is not a publicly-subsidized convention center and it is very hard for them to compete. And they also didn’t have a good business succession plan in place when the last generation of owners passed on. I have read that the tax issues were in part caused by this. The revenue that the arena brings to the area is probably why Montgomery County has been so lenient about the taxes.

My blog post linked above centers around what I would do, right now, if I were DARA, and begin planning now to find a new venue. Maybe Hara Arena can turn around — I have no doubt it’s possible, if they do everything right. Hell, I like the place so much if they put together a summer volunteer work party, I’d fly up for a week and paint some walls. But the odds hover somewhere around even that the place will go away in the next 12-36 months, and if this happens it will take a significant amount of time and effort to:
1) Locate a suitable venue (indoor space, outdoor space, parking)
2) Figure out how to deal with the added costs (increasing admission ticket price, which probably could go up five bucks without much pissing and moaning)
3) Re-arrange the flea market and exhibit halls so that people get what they expect/are used to when it comes to replacing the locations that they have had for years
4) Deal with the fact that attendance and participation may be unpredictable for a few years — some people who are just plain disgusted (or afraid) of the Hara Arena may decide to attend, and others of the type who just aren’t satisfied with anything in life may choose not to attend.

Dan, you and I have both run radio clubs… not to the extent of DARA, but we both know that what others think is easy (just find a new location…) can be an incredible logistical challenge.

Comments

Bill Cahill says

January 6, 2015 at 4:52 pm

I know Hara is a dump. It didn’t have to be but it is. And it’s unfortunate. As long as Hamvention is there I will still go, as I go to attend a radio convention and see old friends, not to study architecture. I have written extensively about this on my blog (http://ad8bc.com/bc/?p=272) but in summary:
Hamvention grew into the Hara Arena. If the place was spruced up, it would be the absolute perfect location. It’s cheap enough for a volunteer group to rent every year and cheap enough to keep admission costs low. It’s union free, so that the vendors don’t need to pay a union employee to push the pallets and set up the booths (or God help us, set up an EZ-UP tent in the flea market). It has enough room for the flea market, enough inside spots for the exhibits, and enough nearby (or shuttle) parking at reasonable costs to compensate for the fact that the arena parking lot is covered in old ham gear and old police lights. The concessions are operated by volunteer groups so they are not a cost/profit center to worry about. And it’s close enough to Dayton for the Dayton Amateur Radio Association to operate it with the smallest expense possible. Because these are volunteers on a budget, the Hara Arena just may be the best possible place, even with all of it’s faults and the image that it projects. Of course, the place has become legend, to the point where it’s almost fun to go there and see how far it has deteriorated.

However, the Hara Arena is not a publicly-subsidized convention center and it is very hard for them to compete. And they also didn’t have a good business succession plan in place when the last generation of owners passed on. I have read that the tax issues were in part caused by this. The revenue that the arena brings to the area is probably why Montgomery County has been so lenient about the taxes.

My blog post linked above centers around what I would do, right now, if I were DARA, and begin planning now to find a new venue. Maybe Hara Arena can turn around — I have no doubt it’s possible, if they do everything right. Hell, I like the place so much if they put together a summer volunteer work party, I’d fly up for a week and paint some walls. But the odds hover somewhere around even that the place will go away in the next 12-36 months, and if this happens it will take a significant amount of time and effort to:
1) Locate a suitable venue (indoor space, outdoor space, parking)
2) Figure out how to deal with the added costs (increasing admission ticket price, which probably could go up five bucks without much pissing and moaning)
3) Re-arrange the flea market and exhibit halls so that people get what they expect/are used to when it comes to replacing the locations that they have had for years
4) Deal with the fact that attendance and participation may be unpredictable for a few years — some people who are just plain disgusted (or afraid) of the Hara Arena may decide to attend, and others of the type who just aren’t satisfied with anything in life may choose not to attend.

Dan, you and I have both run radio clubs… not to the extent of DARA, but we both know that what others think is easy (just find a new location…) can be an incredible logistical challenge.

Related posts:

Reader Interactions

Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Footer