Eastern Outdoors Show -- PA Folks Let Them Hear You!

[BullfrogKen]

Ed from LEEK Hunting and Mountain Preserve just announced he was withdrawing from the show. Message from 10 minutes ago -

Ken,

We have also decided to pull out of the show . . . Please disseminate as widely as possible. Thanks for your support.

 

[Ole Humpback]

Ken,

I'm not a huge fan of Paypal. Does Ed with LEEK have an address that we could send a Certified Cashiers Check or Money Order to? I'd hate to see a good cause like this go unfunded this year.

 

[BullfrogKen]

Yes, I had a friend e-mail and ask. I just got it from Ed not 5 minutes ago to answer him.

Here you go:

Our business address is:
LEEK Hunting and Mountain Preserve
740 Ridge Road
Lewisberry, PA 17339

My thanks on his behalf for your support.

 

[Ole Humpback]

Thanks!

I start my new job next week, so by mid-February I'll have some cash in the bank to send his way.

 

[DammitBoy]

I challenge all of us to give Ed the money we would have given his organization at the show so he can make that choice.

You can begin by giving him your door fee.

Donate here -

http://leekpreserve.org/donate/

Done and done Sir. I had tears in my eyes as I read the stories on his page. I made a donation and then shared his facebook page with all of my veteran buddies.

Thank you for the opportunity to help such a great cause.

 

[mgmorden]

Savage just announced that they're pulling out too. From their Facebook page:

Many of you have asked if we still plan to attend the Harrisburg show. Even though Savage Arms does not manufacture or market any of the firearms that will be excluded, as a leader in the firearms industry and proud supporter of the Second Amendment, we cannot, in good conscience, support an outdoor show that does not allow all legal firearms. We have cancelled our plans to attend this show. For other opportunities to see savage products and staff in your region, please see our events calendar. Check back often. We continue to add events and they are scheduled. http://www.savagearms.com/news/events/

 

[Guillermo]

class action suit?

http://mynortheastoutdoors.com/ticket-holders-wanting-refunds-please-look-here/

 

[Russ Jackson]

233 HAVE PULLED SO FAR ANOTHER 30 IN THE PAST TWO HOURS!
The list can be found here.
http://mynortheastoutdoors.com/esos-boycott-supporters/

 

[Texshooter]

Excellant ideas & news

 

[hso]

Outstanding!

I do like the advice to challenge the credit card charges for misrepresenting the product AND intentionally not providing a product that was advertised. That's a very clever approach.

I also like that for the exhibitors who paid a lot of money for their booths. That is a big expense that the organizers should not profit from. Those are often paid with credit cards as well and those should be challenged because the organizers changed the show after getting the contract on the booth space.

The craft folks should be pressuring REED because they had labor contracts for setup that now won't be honored and that's money out of their pockets.

The associated hotels and restaurants should be pressuring REED because those vendors typically stay as close to the venue as possible and they will be losing money they budgeted for because REED intentionally changed the show.

Further, the local and state politicians should be pressuring REED because of their decision that has caused all of this negative economic impact.

 

[98Redline]

Donated my ESOS door fee to LEEK.

 

[Rembrandt]

Something doesn't smell right.......REED can't be that tone deft to not see the financial repercussions this show and future shows will have. I suspect some very wealthy donor or Insurance company is underwriting the losses. Follow the money........

 

[BCCL]

Look at their website, they are sponsored by Progressive Insurance.

What gets me, is they are still listing as "exhibitors" on their website, several that have announced they are not going.

To me that's fraud.

 

[BullfrogKen]

Thank you for the opportunity to help such a great cause.

I told Ed the same thing last year when he came out to my club as made his presentation. If you ever got to know him you'd find out it's all about these disabled vets for him.

We work at a DoD agency, so we interact with uniform military almost daily.

Thank you to all of you who are donating your door fees to his organization, LEEK.

It makes me feel good when I do it, just like it makes him feel good to offer them the experience. He gets more pleasure, because he's made it his life's calling.

 

[Ole Humpback]

What gets me, is they are still listing as "exhibitors" on their website, several that have announced they are not going.

To me that's fraud.

I wouldn't get too worked up over that. It takes a good bit of time to change something that simple on a website. My sisters husband did that kind of stuff all the time on the back end and it wouldn't be reflected on the front end until the server either did a backup or reset in the middle of the night.

 

[BullfrogKen]

At some point they're going to have to do a press release and announce the situation. The bad PR of someone coming from several states away - which some do - to find out the show has been completely neutered will be horrible. No one complains as loudly and often as someone who got cheated on a deal.

Someone traveling several hundred miles to this is definitely going to feel that way when they get here and find out the people they came to see cancelled 2 weeks ago and they said nothing to the public.

 

[Ole Humpback]

Ahh, I thought he was talking about the websites of the people who announced that they weren't going (NWTF, RMEF, ect.), not the website for the event itself.

Btw, what is the door fee? I had no clue about this event until I got that email from the NWTF.

 

[lobo9er]

bullfrogken I was thinking same thing no mention of anything on their website. would seem important to tell people a large amount of the vendors, the reason to go, aren't coming.

 

[mgmorden]

I wouldn't get too worked up over that. It takes a good bit of time to change something that simple on a website. My sisters husband did that kind of stuff all the time on the back end and it wouldn't be reflected on the front end until the server either did a backup or reset in the middle of the night.

He had a poor setup then. As someone who does this type of work you should be able to make instant changes (we certainly can - if we had to wait overnight for our site to update IT's collective heads would be on a platter ).

That said, I also wouldn't worry. If a company voiced their intent to attend, and then cancelled, you can't really call lazy website updates fraud.

 

[Davek1977]

Has REED come out with any sort of statement regarding the boycott? Or are they still scrambling , trying to save what little is left of their show? How can they remain silent in the face of so much pressure?

 

[Sam1911]

It won't matter what statement they make in the end -- if there were 1,200 vendors and let's say 300 end up pulling out, every 4th booth visitors walk by will be empty. That's going to make quite an impression!

 

[rjrivero]

Couldn't they just rope off 1/4th of the venue behind big "Wizard of Oz" curtains?

 

[Sam1911]

I really don't know how much flexibility they have with reassigning spots at this point, but the show sprawls through 4-5 huge attached buildings, so if they herd everyone into just 3-4 of them then yest they could occlude how vacant the place is.

But anyone who'd attended the show in years past would pretty quickly catch on that it was much smaller than previously.

But they also probably are contractually bound to hold those spaces open for anyone who's paid for a spot, until and unless that vendor gives some official notice, specifically to the show promoter, releasing their claim on the spot they paid for.

 

[dab102999]

The other thing to remember it isnt just like every other spot is open. Some of these vendors ( many of them) take up multiple spots if not areas. It will be hard to hide those empty spaces. Expessially if they dont release them because spot like cabelas are in high profile areas also.

 

[98Redline]

I really don't think Reed Expo gives a flying "F" that people are pulling out left and right.

My expectation is that this show will end up being a colossal failure (the worlds largest decal and beef jerky show) and we will not see Reed host it again in 2014. What we need is a truly 2A friendly group to pick up the ball and run with it.