I hate to say it, but I told you so! SOS and the larger picture

But now I need to remind readers that it was about a year ago that I warned that our hobby really isn’t all that important in the big picture and our behavior at shows big and small can jeopardize its future. In the year since I wrote that two things happened. First, Roan became a huge pop star, and more importantly, we were found out that next year’s SOS would take place at the end of January.

The show was bumped from its late February dates due to the Kentucky Expo Center hosting the 2026 ACE Hardware Spring Convention. During this year’s SOS I spoke with a few friends with more than one asking, “Didn’t OVMS lock down the dates,” while I overheard others saying, “We should move the show.”

In no way do I speak for OVMS, nor do I know the specifics of any long term contract the club may have with the Expo Center. But I know from attending more trade shows than I care to count that “large events” are the bread and butter for venues like the Kentucky Expo Center, and for the host cities. Simply put, and I know this will be hard for some readers to believe, but SOS doesn’t fall into the category of “large events.”

 Not even close. 

While it may seem like the biggest event in the world to those of us in attendance, especially with the long lines this year, we need to face facts.

SOS is hosted in just one of the building’s numerous exhibit halls, and typically multiple events are taking place in the other parts of the building. That won’t be the case with the ACE Hardware convention. It will almost certainly take over the majority of the building, including most of the halls and meeting rooms. The National Farm Machinery Show, which typically occurs the week before SOS, is even bigger still. It uses every hall and has events like tractor pulls in the Broadbent Arena. 

For the record, ACE Hardware should bring about 40,000 attendees, while the Farm Machinery Show draws in somewhere around 300,000 attendees.

When those shows come to town, the hotels will be sold out, and special events will be hosted offsite. SOS may be huge in the military collectible world, but it is still small potatoes to use a farm idiom. In other words, locking down the dates is meaningless, and at best, OVMS likely has a “preferred date.”

 As far as the suggestion to “move the show,” this has come up time and time again, but the question is where?

 Is there some magical convention center that it is close to an airport, isn’t in a city center, and can accommodate a show that requires around 2,000 tables? Sure, there are probably a few, but they’re likely to be booked solid. As I wrote a year ago, there are a lot of sports memorabilia shows and comic book/science fiction conventions that can fill spaces as large as or larger than SOS. And they don’t come with some of the baggage that includes firearms and items that can only be described today as controversial. As attendees we may not be offended by it, but the times have changed and we have to accept that some people might be.

Let’s factor in that SOS needs to be as centrally located in the country as possible and the options are further limited. Sure, Tulsa has a great venue that hosts the famed gun show with 4,500-plus tables, but that’s a far from ideal location for most attendees. The same is true of the convention centers in cities like Atlanta and Charlotte, while New Orleans, Chicago, and Las Vegas all have huge convention centers. But distance is one issue, gun laws are another, and then there is the issue of union labor requirements. The Great Western Gun Show couldn’t survive a move from the Los Angeles Fairgrounds, so there is no guarantee our beloved SOS would fare any better.

The other important consideration is some of us have forgotten to be polite to one another. Maybe it is a reflection of the times, but it shouldn’t be that way.

It was hard to miss the fact that more than a few dealers weren’t too happy about having to move in through the outside doors this year, particularly as the temperatures were far from ideal. It felt every bit of February this year, and the situation likely isn’t going to be any better next January (but Louisville is still the northernmost southern city, so we never know).

 We should remember that OVMS wasn’t responsible for the weather, and again, the dealers only had themselves to blame. Bad behavior in past years meant that a special privilege of loading in through the lobby was no longer extended. It was unfortunate, but a reminder that we should be a bit more respectful of the venue, its employees, and attendees of other events.

The same goes to the OVMS staff working the counter in the lobby. Yes, there were some long lines, and some attendees weren’t happy about it. We should be grateful the show went on, to be blunt. No one likes standing in lines, but you’re not going to have a large show without a few of those. Long lines should be seen as a sign of success and a good portent for the future of the hobby.

 It also wouldn’t hurt if a few more people showed some basic manners. Is it that hard to say “please” and “thank you”? SOS is several days of getting to buy, sell, and simply see some cool stuff, and hang out with friends in the process. Everyone should be as happy as a 10-year-old at Disney World, but sometimes based on their attitudes, you’d think the attendees were being punished for something.  

 Things get broken, deals fall through, an item was sold before you could buy it, etc. Take a deep breath and move on. Seriously, let’s have some fun, and stop complaining so much.

Finally, please treat the OVMS staff, the venue and its employees with respect. SOS should be remembered as the show that brings all that interesting history into the building, not as an event where the attendees are a bunch of angry old guys who only complain and leave a huge mess. Otherwise, we could find the hard way that the show wasn’t just bumped from the preferred date, but rather was told to find a new home. And then, I really would hate to say I told you so.