greetings all,

first off i'd like to thank all those that helped make the show possible...

esther sanchez for handling indoor swap and hamboree treasurer.
ray vaughan for handling the website.
M.C. virgil salisbury.
elizabeth caballero for handling ticket sales.
carl jagielski for handling table repair.
john hall for handling table repair.
john vecchio for handling hamfest radios.
merrit burrus for handling tailgate
george van smith and the Civil Air Patrol Homstead squadron for handling
hamfest wide security detail.
harry newell for calling last years vendors one by one.
dave thompson for helping resolve general office mayhem.
tom morris for distributing flyers at FIU, speading the word, and helping on
setup day.
ed kretchmer for distributing flyers and running errands.

i hope i covered all those that helped out!

we will have exact numbers hopefully by next meeting as to how we did. we did not break even. i do think we lost less than i thought we were going to at the start of the show.

vendor turnout was dismal. attendee turnout was dismal. a total of 4700 post cards were mailed to hams in the quad county area, a weeklong ad was run in both the herald and a spanish newspaper. the show received mediocre attendance from even its own club members despite the good reviews we got last year. we even had to go outside of the ham community for volunteers! the pretty smiling face you saw in the ticket booth isnt a ham and really has no interest in being a ham. she's a friend that came to help the cause. 

without much surprise i am stepping down as hamboree chairman. i took on the role in an attempt to keep a piece of miami history alive but without support from the local ham community it has become a moot point. my main reason being dismal support from the local ham community, the same community for which the miami hamfest was created over 45 years ago. its an incredible amount of work to run a hamfest. i wasnt even able to count on a strong show of support from our own club, much less the 4,000 plus hams in miami dade county alone.

i will be more than glad to assist anyone wishing to take on the task of running the 2010 hamtoberfest. i assure you i will keep no secrets and you will gladly be given the infamous "hamboree" boxes upon official acceptance of the title "hamboree chairman".

73
ke4mcl
2009 hamtoberfest chairman

Check back in a few months about future Hamtoberfests or Hamborees.