I've been following the replies regarding poor attendance at the St. A's event, and have my own thoughts about why the crowd was sparse.LOI (lack of interest) accompanied with the ever rising prices of gas were the first two things that came to mind.

Gas prices is probably the real culprit. Some people would say why would an extra quarter of so a gallon stop someone from driving 300 miles to attend an event that they would have gladly driven 500 miles in the past to attend? It's not just the gas price. With the raise in gas prices comes a raise in everything we buy to sustain our existence. It's the old food, clothing, and shelter thing. Everything we need takes a bigger bite our of our wallets. Therefore, anything we don't need we don't buy to compensate for the high cost of living. People no longer have the expendable cash to do what many would consider frivilous.

LOI? Many old timers who would normally support this type of event are falling by the way side. They are discouraged by high prices on everything they need. They find it hard to justify buying two tanks of gas for an afternoon event when those two tanks of gas would have kept their car going for a month or more. In their minds it isn't worth it.

It would behoove Harbour Lights to plan events where they know they have a strong nucleus of supporters within a short distance away. They must know the areas where there are a large concentration of members of the Collector's Society where a mass mailing will bring a decent crowd. People are willing to drive an hour, maybe two to get there, but don't expect people to be driving 4-5 hours or jumping on planes to say hello to one of the Youngers for an hour of two. I'm sorry to say those days are over.

:rolleyes: Bob