NEAR-FestXXXIII will be held on April 28th and 29th 2023 not its traditional date and is optional this year

[ScanBoston]

Here's a message from Mister Mike regarding a date change for the spring NEAR-Fest in Deerfield, NH:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEAR-FestXXXIII will be held on April 28th and 29th 2023 and not on its traditional date which always has been the first weekend in May every year since 2007. NEAR-Fest XXXIV scheduled for October 13th and 14th 2023 is NOT affected.
Last month the Deerfield Fair Association informed me that they booked two events, the NH Farm, Forest and Garden Show and the NH Arabian Horse Ass’n Show at the Fairgrounds for May 5th and 6th 2023 which is the weekend before Mothers Day. We were told we were welcome to hold the NEAR-Fest at the same time with the two other shows but there would be a “few small changes” to the parts of the Fairgrounds that we would be allowed to use.
Ben, KB1NZN, and I attended a meeting on Thursday December 15th with the DFA Directors and officers and were told that we would have to move what we consider the central part of the flea market to a remote area of the grounds to accommodate the horse show. Two of our food vendors, Patty and Angelino’s, would also be affected.
This is what the grounds would look like if we agreed to share the grounds. The red space is where we would be restricted if we shared; the black and red area shows what we usually use but we can easily expand out of that if need be.
Regretfully I decided the best course of action is to take a chance on the weather one week earlier and change the date. My team agrees with me. It’s the best way to deal with it. We have full use of the grounds with no stinking and noisy horses and outsiders to bother us. I resisted it at first but changed my mind after discussing it with my colleagues who run the fester with me.
Is this a one-time thing or is it permanent? Depends on if the horse show comes back next spring. We could co-exist with the Farm Show but it is the horse show that causes us the problems because we use part of the grounds adjacent to the Horse Show ring and bleachers.
I still don’t like it but I know it is the right decision. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause anyone.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year my friends.
73,
MisterMike, W1RC

NEARfestmap.jpg (562.48 KiB) Viewed 1635 times

[wltrsf]

Thanks for the update, added to my smartphone calendar

[Scott]

John, I've been meaning to ask you...

...is this optional?

[ScanBoston]

Scott,

It appears I was completly wrong.. Hell they cancelled it for Covid. I'd say the best we can muster now is that "attendance will be taken" and "you could earn special credit!"

[garys]

I plan to get my ticket this Saturday. I'll be vending not shopping this time. Probably Friday only though.

[ScanBoston]

If you'd like to pull into the GEMOTO/PRA area and sell with us and us I can hook you up! The PRA folks have a tent to which is nice if the weather is off.

[garys]

That's a very nice offer, John. Based on past experience, a tent would be nice to have. I plan to get up there early on Friday morning and leave late. I just have so much junk that's collected over the years. Not all ham, but that's never been an issue at NEAR FEST.

If you'd like to pull into the GEMOTO/PRA area and sell with us and us I can hook you up! The PRA folks have a tent to which is nice if the weather is off.

[ScanBoston]

I'll be there early too I'll get you my cell before then and we can hold you a prime selling space. It's a good crowd and then you ave folks to watch your stuff when you walk around.

[garys]

Thanks! PM me when you want my cell number.

I'll be there early too I'll get you my cell before then and we can hold you a prime selling space. It's a good crowd and then you ave folks to watch your stuff when you walk around.

[garys]

FWIW, I'll be selling at MIT on Sunday. I have 40 years of accumulated stuff that is going as part of our house decluttering.

I'll have even more at NEAR Fest as I'm helping my late friends wife clean out his basement work shop. He worked in electronic repair and engineering for 60 years and has a lot of stuff.

[AJ1L]

It's getting very close now... Weather is looking good for Friday, maybe not so great for Saturday but we'll see.

[garys]

My truck is loaded and I will be heading out around 05:00 tomorrow.

[W1KNE]

Have Fun!! I will be working all weekend.

[garys]

That's most unfortunate. Depending on how much you like old stuff, you might have been interested in some of the stuff I have.

Anyone need a Heathkit Tube Tester?

Have Fun!! I will be working all weekend.

[garys]

I'm here waiting in line.

[AJ1L]

I left today at 1:45 and never saw one rain drop the whole time!

The radar showed it should be raining, but it was dry and never reached the ground. The crowd was down from yesterday because of those that were afraid of the threat of rain.

Another great fest, lots of good conversation and things to see.

[wb1hbu]

I left about the same time and only noticed rain when I was further south on I-93. Even though I had a jacket on and temps were in the 50s, it seemed too chilly.

I only bought two plastic toolboxes I needed to start collecting various tools scattered about. It was great seeing almost everyone (I saw John K1BOS's Explorer today, but missed him).

Thanks Jeff for helping Dan out. He is usually on the Nightly Nut Net and we have chatted about his initial foray into Motorola radios on the net. I should dig the old EF Johnson 5100 out and see if I can add P25 trunking. The Kenwood radio looks nice. It would be super if someone came out with an Analog, P25, DMR, and NXDN radio that could do VHF, UHF, and 900 Ham.

[n1zyy]

I missed some of you folks! I was only able to attend on Friday this year.

I'm curious if there was an affiliation log or something to show how many people ended up on the on-site trunk. That wasn't something I was expecting to find, but I finally got to see the signal bars on my XTS2500.

Incredibly, I sold more than I bought this year, and the only radio I bought was a Radio Shack HTX-202 for nostalgia's sake.

[Pacmannion]

I missed some of you folks! I was only able to attend on Friday this year.

I missed everyone, ended up oversleeping by mistake on Saturday (which was the only day I had off), by the time I got up it wouldn't have been worth it to make the journey, imo.