doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com EPIC Game Fair 1st Impressions

Friends:
At the risk of being politically incorrect here, I thought I'd disclose my impressions of EPIC Game Fair from my Friday visit:

Overall, it has the potential to be absolutely fantastic. With luck, in a few years it may be a worthy alternative to the CLA Game Fair in UK. The venue is at least as "upscale" as Pintail, and probably more so. Even the tent floors were tiled! There is also infinite room for expansion. Think of an endless golf green!

Vendors were of the higher order... as one would expect from an SCI event. I can see many of the SCI Convention biz types going here. Sadly, some were still setting up on Friday morn... Galazan among them.

It was especially inspiring to see a pack of fox hounds and riders in red livery milling about for a morning hunt. What fun!

Vendors ranged from guns to clothing, taxidermy, hunting, wine and more. Eukanuba had an entire corner of the grounds it seemed.

Central was a LARGE stage readying for a concert.

The major downside was the previous two days of rain. It turned the parking lot into mush. And standing water was in evidence right near the gate ($29 per day). I saw no attendees in camo. Thank God.

I trust Saturday and Sunday will put EPIC over the top. I can't wait to return in 2012. Especially if it's not on the same date as Vintagers.

Well that is the reason i am not attending! I am a Georgia redneck who wears a camo.cap and likes fine doubles.I would feel out of place with all the upscale folks there! Bobby

Bobby, you wouldn't have been out of place at all! I attended along with my father and brother today and we had an awesome time! The vendors were fantastic! The new clays course was a lot of fun too (I used a Beretta DT-10 on loan from Beretta's mobile showroom and my Dad used a 687 EELL Diamond Pigeon Sporting)! And I was very surprised by the very large number of what appeared to be "non-hunting" families.

I hope they figure out the dates and steel shot problems... because it was a fantastic event!

Adam

it was just real good camo so you couldn't see them.i don't understand the "i saw no attendees in camo" thank god.i thought it was hunting pink.. mc

Sadly, the reason there is so much room is Foxhall is a large home development that hasn't sold many homes. Foxhall's owners have recently turned two sister home developments over to creditors, so who knows what the future holds for the property.

I asked vendors at the Vintage Cup who were also exhibiting at EPIC what they were hearing from their collegues and they sounded pretty disappointed. One said the EPIC organizers told them there were 1500 people through the gate, about 5% of the 30K crowd the organizers predicted, and most of those didn't visit the fine gun tent. I talked to one vendor who passed on EPIC this year, but went to see what it was like. They said they were glad they passed on it.

Apparently, the mud made it hard for some vendors to set up, and the press reported the bad weather kept Georgia's Governor from making the ribbon cutting ceremony.

The oganizers' press release doesn't give a gate number, but says "Thousands of people were on the event grounds throughout the three-day weekend". In PR speak, that sounds like around 2000 people including vendors, staff, entertainers, clean up crew and attendees. The vendors I've heard from aren't buying that number at all.

If 1500 attendees were true, that wouldn't be bad for an inaugural event, but considering they were budgeting for 30,000 and including free country music concerts to get people out, that would be an epic flop.

I still think the Game Fair concept is a great idea and hope the organizers have learned a lesson regarding their lead shot ban and excessive hype. Hopefully, they will give it another try at a more suitable venue where fine gun owners can actually participate.

No, doubt the economy had an ill effect on the turnout. However, I think such events need to grow organically. Expecting an inaugural event with (to many) an obtuse title as "Game Fair" to draw 30000 people (during football season) was always a reach. If it returns, the promoters might do well to give it a title that is more descriptive and save "Game Fair" as subtitle.

$0.02

I refused to attend, even turning down free passes. The steel shot was a deal breaker for me. Made worse by their failure to respond to my emails.

I heard from another EPIC vendor today who told me the official attendance on opening day was about 300 people, and he wasn't told what the gate was after that. He thinks vendors may have outnumbered attendees. He assembled an extensive string of profanities to describe the vendor experience.

The prohibition on lead kept me far away. Would'a been fun otherwise.

My neighbor and I drove up to see the spectacle on Sunday. I spoke with several vendor friends that were set up and they were very unhappy with the attendance.

I live a little over an hour away from the location. Not once was it advertised in any of the local media or on any signage. I believe the organizers were banking on SCI's name as the primary sponsor to draw in the "30,000" that were supposed to attend.

The overhead for the event must have been enormous as well. I also have some heartburn about being mugged for $5 to park on top of a $29 admission fee. There was no mention of the parking costs on the website. If I fork out $30 to walk through the gate, I shouldn't have to pay again to park in a hayfield 3oo yards away.