Hey Forum, I can visit one of two shows over the next 2 weeks. The Enid coin club 43rd annual show in Enid, Ok. This weekend or the Texas coin show in Grapevine, TX the following weekend. Has anyone been to either of these and might recommend one over the other? They are both about the same distance from home so that’s no issue. I guess I’m a little concerned that I’ll pick one and show up to find a big “garage sell” type of a “show”. My last 3 or 4 shows have been the big ones (FUN show in Florida and the ANA shows in Baltimore and Chicago). While I’m obviously not expecting anything like that, I do want to be able to spend half a day searching and whatnot without feeling like I wasted my time at one of these “little” shows. Any insight anyone can offer would be very much appreciated! Thanks! Brent
Sorry, can't help you. I've never been to either, but when I have these kind of decisions to make, I take into consideration population size, and both have about 49K, and then weather and what other things the town has for me to do, just in case the show is a bomb. I always check to see if there is a Red Lobster or other restaurant that we don't have in my area. Hope that helps a little.
Um... @Mountain Man - Grapevine is in the middle of the DFW Metroplex with about 6.8M pop. Grapevine is a large semi-regional show. 70 tables, $3 admission, free parking. Other than TNA, this is the best DFW area show. http://www.coinzip.com/grapevine-texas-coin-show Enid's show page says it's a 30 table club show (coinshows.com). Enid is a county seat about 100 miles outside of Oklahoma City. I like club shows (it's not always the same old dealers with the same old stock). For me the bigger local show (1/2 hour drive vs. 4 1/2 hour drive) wins.
For you @Brent Miller it's 4.5h to Grapevine vs. 1.75h to Enid. BTW, if you drive down, fire up Google maps once you get to McKinney. The normal route would have you going across 121 to Grapevine, but the construction on the weekends often closes 121. You do NOT want to play "detour" games. The route will hop-scotch across a bit... 75 to 635 to 161 to 114 but that avoids all the traffic...
I find that just about any show is fun. The ONA show in OKC is probably the largest each year. The Enid show is about half the size of Grapevine. Heck, do them both.
Thanks everyone, that’s exactly what I was needing to hear. I would love to do them both, not sure if the wife and kids can be talked into going to 2 coin shows over their spring break but I’ll try! Dallas road construction is brutal, when you mix that in with how bad the drivers are there (yes, I’m stereotyping a bit here, but as a whole they seem to be some of the worse drivers around) but, that’s not enough to keep me away from a good coin show! I’m not one to give into “fear” over things like this, but.... I do wonder if (and by how much) the covid19 will affect upcoming coin shows. I would assume the turnout would be lower, which could work out in my favor but worst case they may postpone/reschedule? I contacted the guy who runs the Enid show and he says it’s still a go and I assume the Dallas show is to big to be affected by that. I guess I’ll find out next week. Thanks!
I went to a small local show last weekend, and attendance was definitely down; then again, we've had reported cases in our region. Judging from discussions here, a lot of people are still in the "it's overblown" mindset. I expect a lot of dealers would be unwilling to eat the table fee and skip the show. On the other hand, a lot of dealers (at least around here) are older and/or have pre-existing health problems, so they may choose caution. I did notice that the rate of hand-shaking was way down last weekend...
Dallas drivers suck but the absolute worst are those idiots from Oklahoma in the left lane with their eyes half-closed praying their way down the road doing 55 in a 70 zone in the left lane. True: I was heading home by myself from the ONA show about 20 miles north of the border (if you're from there you know there is nothing until you get to the casino)...just keeping up with traffic on cruise control ... And a pickup truck blew by me. I cursed and said - out loud - "he must be doing 90". Then I looked down at MY speedometer and said "nope 100" Because the cruise was set to 92...
George Carlin said it all, many years ago: "anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac".
