A Texas Show At Long Last.. Interest?

[obiwanknabbe]

Hello to all my friends here on the board,

 

It is with great pleasure that I am informing you all of a planned sword show here in the Fort Worth Dallas area. My dear friend, Kazuhiro Hayashi, and I are working together to create a Nihonto event sometime in the coming year. I am putting this idea out there now in order to see what interest there is and who else may wish to be involved. This is all very preliminary but will serve to help us better choose the location and dates.  Kindly respond with whatever feedback you my have.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Kurt Knabbe

[Stephen]

Good to hear Kurt, the Texas shows were always a favorite of mine, i hope it gets off the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

725

[SwordGuyJoe]

Good luck Kurt!

[Toryu2020]

I for one would love an excuse to get down to Dallas once a year,

Make sure you play up the proximity to the Barbierre museum and the Asian collection downtown.

 

Talking with friends, you might consider the following;

 

Most exhibitors want know that other exhibitors have committed, you will need a good core of sellers.

Any show of less than 50 tables May be too small to justify a good hotel and may not generate enough of a budget to spend money to attract the public. You might have to lose money a few times to get your event up and running.

The venue should be convenient to airports. Proximity to other large events like a Cherry Blossom festival or Kendo Nationals would help bring walk-ins.

The show room must be held on a 24 hour basis with adequate security so that it is not necessary to break down each night.

 

Most important it cannot be too close to other established sword shows, you dont want to force sellers to choose.

 

Wishing you success,

-t

[PhoenixDude]

Yay! Im definitely coming! Any chanse of a shinsa event?

[obiwanknabbe]

These are all good pointers.... I will try and cover all the bases... As for a shinsa, i dont have those types of contacts yet.. now if someone here did...........................????

[Mark]

i attend all U.S. sword shows. I went to the ones in Baltimore and Philly that Bill G organized.  Do you have an idea of time of the year?  There are a lot of established events, sword shows and others, that many dealers may already be committed to so we need to know early to plan. I had attended shows in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas and would try another in TX

[Stephen]

Id touch base with Mark, all reports in is he runs a top notch show in Chicago, i do hope i make it next year.

[jlawson]

God Luck Kurt. I looked at this a couple of years ago and the main problem was timing since there are other shows throughout the year and event timing was difficult. We used to have a show in Dallas, one in San Antonio, and one in Houston but those were different times for sure. Today with the collector base and internet etc it is hard to think that we will ever get back to more than 3 regularly held domestic shows. Adding in the Dai Token Ichi that is one every few months which pretty well saturates the market. 

[AnAmNeSiS]

I am a little late to this thread . . . But yes please Kurt!  I have never been to one before and this would be within a 4-5 hour drive of me.  I wish there was more going on in the central part of the US.  =/.  Would this be on a weekend, Hopefully?

[Stephen]

Location Dave?

[AnAmNeSiS]

Hello Stephen,

 

Hope you are well man.  I am in Oklahoma.  We have a ton of Gun Shows here but nothing to do with any Japanese Arts.  

[Stephen]

Hi Dave

 

i hope you can make it up too Chicago in the spring.

[AnAmNeSiS]

Stephen,

 

I hope so too.  It would be a great experience to meet you and other members in person.  Not to mention, seeing some great collections up close.  I will bring a napkin for my drool!   .  LOL

[Brad]

That would be great, let me know if it materializes. Thanks Kurt.

[Lingonberry]

YES ABSOLUTELY.

 

First sword I ever got was a Kiyokane at a sword show in San Antonio when I was in high school.  Always been jealous of people in places like NY, Chicago, or San Francisco with big clubs or shows nearby.

 

One other idea: maybe make it about Japanese arts in general to get more public interest? Just a thought.

[obiwanknabbe]

Im still working on the details.. as it stands.. its likely going to be small scale. As more develops, i will keep you all posted

[reeder]

Love the idea, and hope it gets the momentum to get going and to stick around.