National Tiki Show?

I have been an antique show dealer for years and have a little bit of knowledge of the workings of an antique show. Here's a question: Do you all think an all-tiki antique show would draw people enough to get on a plane and go somewhere far away to attend? There has been an all antique advertising show (signs, tins, etc.)in Indianapolis since 1970 that has been very successful. I even had a name concept: Antiki: The National Tiki Collectible Show. Are there enough people in the hobby/lifestyle now to support such a show?

Hmmm...not sure. I know that dealers fly into Aloha Cruz's Hawaiiana show every year but I'm betting that most attendees are local. There's also a Hawaiiana show every year at Blaisdale Center in Hawaii but I'm not sure a lot of people fly in for that one either.

That would be a good thing to coordinate with Hukilau 2003 in Fort Lauderdale, wink wink, nudge nudge.

Hukilau no fun if Basement Kahuna lose financial shorts....is there a medium sized indoor venue near the Hukilau site (I.E. bigger hotel meeting room, N.G. armory, etc.)? Something that would support maybe 50 tables?

Not knocking the topic, but when "Shrunken Heads" has 29 responses and "National Tiki Show" has 3, well....that's a neg indicator to me. It would cost probably 1500.00 to promote (thought about ads in Barracuda, Juxtapoz and Tiki News) and rent the venue for a day plus other expenses such as travel, temporary licenses and such. At 40 bucks a table it would be a break even proposition. The first show would almost have to be free admission or a couple of bucks at most. Another option is to go sponsor, like with the Jaycees or Garden Club, blah, blah, where they would conduct concessions in turn for picking up a portion of the expenses, but problems arise there as there is always some "expert" on their team that will want to call the shots and make life as miserable as possible for all concerned. Maybe just promote the hell out of the Hukilau Tiki Flea Market and try to pump it up to a full-fledged all tiki collectibles show next year? Rain or shine venue this time would be a good idea in Florida...it rains a lot there at least when I've been. I had planned on carving a couple of armloads of nice South Seas weapons, shields, and ceremonial paddles to bring along and sell for the bar folks.

On 2002-12-02 11:51, Basement Kahuna wrote:
Not knocking the topic, but when "Shrunken Heads" has 29 responses and "National Tiki Show" has 3, well....that's a neg indicator to me.

"Shrunken Heads" has 29 responses since November 20th. You just posted this topic last night. Give it a little time. Not all of us live solely on TC.

I plan to go to the Hukilau. I would definetly go.
Al

[ Edited by: Alnshely on 2002-12-02 12:10 ]

Pardon me :)

It might be possible to use the hotel banquet space we are using for Hukilau, just a few days earlier.

The biggest hassle of Hukilau 2002 was getting all the vendor stuff worked out. Entertainment is easy, when people are trying to sell, you need to do a lot of things right and much planning, yadda yadda.

But having such a thing in conjunction with an event like Hukilau might make the whole thing more feasible for all. Some would come early to shop, or might already be coming early to make Hukilau part of a vacation. They could add that to their plans. A number of vendors might already be planning to go to the event and adding a day or two to the trip in which they can make money and then relax and spend that money at the event...

I guess it all depends on who would come and where they are coming from and what they are bringing. The guys who came from Florida for Hukilau 2002 to Atlanta didn't enjoy moving all those tikis and they didn't travel well.

Lots to think about.

Speaking as a person who attends tiki events and buys stuff at them, I sort of consider them already a trade show for those interested in tikis. I don't think I would make the transition to flying somewhere, and renting a hotel and car, just to go to a daytime trade show per se. Now, toss in an old tiki hotel/restaurant/bar, appropriate bands e.g. The Mai Kai Gents, King Kukulele, or Fishermen, big nighttime parties, possible late night swimming and/or ukelele sing-alongs, lotsa opportunites to pile on my swankiest Hawaiian duds and - Yeah! I'm there looking at your goods.

But wait! That's Hukilau and Desert Oasis! Hmmm... Well, folks with stuff to sell, bring it on and bring it there (again!)!

Saving my Tiki-buying pennies for the next cool event,
Formikahini

the real question would be- what's gonna be for sale at the tiki show?

I dont know of many people who would sell their tikis.. and those that do usually do it on ebay

I'd like to point out that the Mai-Kai has a well-stocked gift shop that is sure to siphon dollars away from a tiki swap meet. Also, plans are underway to sell a few "official" comemorative items that will help cover event expenses. The Menehunes sold a great mug during Hukilau 2003, and a nice poster, for example.