TRAINFEST 2023??

I haven't heard anything but their webpage seems to confirm what you're saying:

The next Trainfest is planned for November, 2024.

November, 2024.  That's a long way off.

It’s true.  Nothing planned now until 2024, but I have been assured it has nothing to do with the performance of the 2022 show, which did well. I can’t reveal any details, but it’s a show planning problem.

Regardless, it makes me sad.

WHAT!!! That stinks. Always a highlight of the fall for me and the boys.

What is their problem!??  A big mistake IMO. 

Yes I am saddened too. I also feel bad for some of the vendors, as shows such as this have provided them with income. Perhaps their reasoning will leak out some day. Our yearly ritual will come to an end.

That stinks! We had so much fun this past year at the booth!

There hasn't been a Menards train show the last 2 years. This would be a good opportunity for them to get something going again to give us our large train show fix in this area!

From what I understand, the sponsors are looking for a new venue to hold the show.   Even though the State Fair Park has the space,  it has just  gotten too expensive.  The people who run the building, which is operated separately from the park itself,  have no desire to budge on things...it's their way or the highway from what I have been told.    The New Berlin area has a venue that could work, and no parking fees, either!    It may come down to a  da&ned if you, da&ned if you don't, situation, with the State Fair Park, however.    I do hope that a better spot can be found in the area!

The OAW Indoor Sports Complex, which opened in October 2021, is the only place I could think of in New Berlin that has expo-center-level space (assuming the indoor sports field used for football and soccer is used).

But the facility attracts others for sports competition and training. Parking onsite couldn’t accommodate everyone. I couldn’t see the Trainfest folks renting out the entire facility for two days, plus setup the night before. The cost would have to be steep.

Wow.  A blast from the past.  I've done a couple of races at the Milwaukee Mile years ago and the Olympic trials at the ice arena across the street.  Talk about wayback machine.  I hope they can find a place for TrainFest.  Sounds like it was a good time.

@R Nelson posted:

Even though the State Fair Park has the space,  it has just  gotten too expensive. 

I know this same issue has killed other train shows throughout the country.  The cost of the venues get too high, so they look for other venues and/or dates.  Then it becomes self-fulfilling, as attendance declines and the new venue becomes too expensive, so they find another venue, attendance declines even more, they find another venue and eventually attendance is minimal and they lose significant money and the show is no more.

With the sales tax in both the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County slated to increase significantly, could it be time to look outside of Milwaukee County?  I know I certainly will be watching my purchases in Milwaukee and Milwaukee County.   

New Berlin is in Waukesha County, so that would represent an advantage over any City of Milwaukee venue in 2024.

(For those not in the know, the city decided to incorporate a 2% sales tax and Milwaukee County did the same with a 0.9% sales tax. That’s on top of the regular 5% state sales tax. So any purchases made in the city will be 7.9%. Any purchases made outside the city but in Milwaukee County will be 5.9%. In Waukesha County, it will remain 5%.)

But Milwaukee has more arena venues. Even the city of Waukesha has smallish choices — the Waukesha County Expo Center on the fairgrounds is too small to accommodate Trainfest, in its current business model.

Anything downtown? I no longer live in Milwaukee, so just wondering.

@Jeff B. Haertlein posted:

Anything downtown? I no longer live in Milwaukee, so just wondering.

Too expensive, and what was there , that was big enough is long gone.

Anything downtown Milwaukee will be too expensive and parking just sucks!

As for Trainfest, yes there will be NO Trainfest in 2023 but the organizers have said they are planning one for 2024.

After Trainfest was cancelled for this year an individual came forward and starting planning to hold one at the Sports Complex in New Berlin, on the weekend that Trainfest was suppose to be held. Plans were made, everything started to fall into place and then the email came out that everything at the New Berlin Sports complex has been cancelled for the year as far as any train swap meets and their version of Trainfest.

Stay tuned!

@Yardmaster posted:

Anything downtown Milwaukee will be too expensive and parking just sucks!

As for Trainfest, yes there will be NO Trainfest in 2023 but the organizers have said they are planning one for 2024.

After Trainfest was cancelled for this year an individual came forward and starting planning to hold one at the Sports Complex in New Berlin, on the weekend that Trainfest was suppose to be held. Plans were made, everything started to fall into place and then the email came out that everything at the New Berlin Sports complex has been cancelled for the year as far as any train swap meets and their version of Trainfest.

Stay tuned!

The repair work on the collapsed roof at the OAW Indoor Sports Complex went more slowly than everyone would have liked from July to December 2022. But the center was fully functioning again early this year, so it had no bearing on 2023. If the sports complex is being considered for 2024, it will mean coordinating with the sports leagues that keep the facility busy. Very busy. It’s quite the venue.

Actually, there is going to be a train show, not Train Fest, but a show at the New Berlin facility in early November according to what I've seen online.    I cannot recall who the group is that sponsors it, but it is going to be a sort of replacement show the same weekend that Train Fest would have been held.   Now just how good it'll be, is anyone's guess.     Time will tell.     I plan on being up there for the nearby Beecherfest, the Friday night before, so I will plan on this show as well.

I did go to the Mad City show, last February, and that was a big disappointment!     The first one I attended in 2011 was great, but the show keeps getting smaller each year.   Just not worth the 3+ hour drive plus parking to go!

Hopefully more details as the weeks go by.

As for 2023 at the New Berlin Sports Complex there is going to be nothing this year.

@R Nelson posted:

I did go to the Mad City show, last February, and that was a big disappointment!     The first one I attended in 2011 was great, but the show keeps getting smaller each year.   Just not worth the 3+ hour drive plus parking to go!

I stopped going to the Mad City show about 5 years ago.  It was great in the 90s and early to mid 2000s, but as you said it keeps getting smaller and smaller each year and it is no longer worth the 2+ hour drive and parking.

So sad, as I can remember my dad taking my brother and I to the Mad City show in the mid 70s, when I was 6 or 7.  Didn't know anything about trains back then, but it was cool to see the train layouts!

Mack......Thanks for the update!    I saw the show listed on a website just a few days ago, I believe Rail Serve, and was not aware of the cancellation.   Of course just because it is on a web site somewhere, doesn't mean it is gospel.      Too bad, I was kind of looking for a decent train show in the fall/

Boggles my mind that 20-25k people will pay $20 each (that's $400-500k), vendors will pay for space, and the "entertainment" (layouts and clinic presenters) will show up and work for free, and yet it isn't economically viable???  Something smells about this...

By skipping a year after what seemed to be a very successful post-covid show, it allows people to get out of the habit of going - this is killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.

@Mallard4468 posted:

Boggles my mind that 20-25k people will pay $20 each (that's $400-500k), vendors will pay for space, and the "entertainment" (layouts and clinic presenters) will show up and work for free, and yet it isn't economically viable???  Something smells about this...

It might boggle your mind that it is not economically viable being an outsider looking in, but I bet if you were involved in the operation of the show that the cost to put on the show would really boggle your mind. 

Being that it’s November the usual Trainfest time, I checked out their website looking for the promised “summer 2023 update” and there is nothing posted.
Any inside info on if this show will ever return?

Not looking good. No one has committed to 2024 yet. The only thing for certain is that the 2023 show wasn’t happening.

Planning the event and finding an affordable venue seem to be the hangups.

Too bad I really liked this show, fingers crossed it comes back

I agree this show was a must for me.  I really hope that they can figure out a way to save it.

Art

@Jim R. posted:

Not looking good. No one has committed to 2024 yet. The only thing for certain is that the 2023 show wasn’t happening.

Planning the event and finding an affordable venue seem to be the hangups.

Thanks Jim. Sorry to hear that news, but we all promise not to shoot the messenger!

Well, good news, though with somewhat limited details at this point. Trainfest is on the schedule for 2024. It’s the weekend before Thanksgiving, which is definitely a week later than normal. The venue? Maybe that will be announced after Jan  1.

https://www.train-fest.com

Still waiting for Great Train Shows to update their website info, but the organization sent out word today that the 2024 show will be at the Baird Center (formerly the Wisconsin Center, 400 W. Wisconsin Ave.) in downtown Milwaukee. That ends its longtime home at State Fair Park in West Allis just outside Milwaukee.