We’ve done a few shows now, and I can certainly say that with regards to the feedback we receive after each show, the positive is always the vast majority, with complaints certainly existing, but only a small fraction. When Thomas mentioned to me that he wanted to do a gun show/swap meet for the 10th anniversary of ODT in 2020, I thought it sounded like a great idea. Like a huge party celebrating all the trading that’s been going on every day here for 10 years. Of course, we all know what happened with Covid and all that, and we ended up doing it a couple years late in 2022.
After that show, we heard things like “gun shows suck nowadays, but this was so much better,” and “this is what gun shows used to be like!” We also had many many people who loved the fact that vendors were members of the ODT and it wasn’t just a bunch of gun shops with random salesman sprinkled in who were being paid to be somewhere they didn’t want to be. It was a community event where like-minded people could come, buy, sell, and trade while also catching up with long time acquaintances and friends.
Thomas asked me to partner with him to start putting on a yearly show, so we did. We called it a “Gun Show & Swap Meet” because we intentionally didn’t want it to be just a gun show. We wanted the original feeling of the swap meet to be there every time. We wanted to put on “old school” gun shows where you could genuinely find good deals and also sell things that you’ve been meaning to sell. A day where things moved for everyone.
Each year has been a success and feedback is always by and large positive. Most negative stuff is circumstantial and while we don’t brush anything off, it wouldn’t be anything that would make us change the “mission” of what we wanted to achieve with these shows originally. We’ve had to make hard calls on vendors here and there, but I think we’ve done a good job of sticking to our mission. Of course we’d love to hear your thoughts on that too.
Last year we decided to try a Fall show in Marietta, which had a smaller turnout than the May show, but was still so fun and a success. We chalked it off to the crazy schedules that we all have in the Fall. Competing with football, holidays, etc seems to have been a bad idea, so we will likely not do that again.
We also decided to try to reach out to those ODT members South of Atlanta by launching a show in Macon. This show is in a few weeks, and will hopefully be a great success, but it takes a lot of faith not to let just anyone join in.
What makes the gun show and swap meet special to you? I know there are lots of threads and posts about this kind of thing, but I’m curious what y’all are thinking now. Especially those of you who live South of Atlanta. Are you excited about the Macon show? Are you planning to be there or to get a table? What are you looking forward to seeing?
After that show, we heard things like “gun shows suck nowadays, but this was so much better,” and “this is what gun shows used to be like!” We also had many many people who loved the fact that vendors were members of the ODT and it wasn’t just a bunch of gun shops with random salesman sprinkled in who were being paid to be somewhere they didn’t want to be. It was a community event where like-minded people could come, buy, sell, and trade while also catching up with long time acquaintances and friends.
Thomas asked me to partner with him to start putting on a yearly show, so we did. We called it a “Gun Show & Swap Meet” because we intentionally didn’t want it to be just a gun show. We wanted the original feeling of the swap meet to be there every time. We wanted to put on “old school” gun shows where you could genuinely find good deals and also sell things that you’ve been meaning to sell. A day where things moved for everyone.
Each year has been a success and feedback is always by and large positive. Most negative stuff is circumstantial and while we don’t brush anything off, it wouldn’t be anything that would make us change the “mission” of what we wanted to achieve with these shows originally. We’ve had to make hard calls on vendors here and there, but I think we’ve done a good job of sticking to our mission. Of course we’d love to hear your thoughts on that too.
Last year we decided to try a Fall show in Marietta, which had a smaller turnout than the May show, but was still so fun and a success. We chalked it off to the crazy schedules that we all have in the Fall. Competing with football, holidays, etc seems to have been a bad idea, so we will likely not do that again.
We also decided to try to reach out to those ODT members South of Atlanta by launching a show in Macon. This show is in a few weeks, and will hopefully be a great success, but it takes a lot of faith not to let just anyone join in.
What makes the gun show and swap meet special to you? I know there are lots of threads and posts about this kind of thing, but I’m curious what y’all are thinking now. Especially those of you who live South of Atlanta. Are you excited about the Macon show? Are you planning to be there or to get a table? What are you looking forward to seeing?
