9th Ohio N-scale Weekend may 19/20/21, 2017 Franklin County Fair Hilliard OH

[casmmr]

All it is about 2 1/2 months until the 9th Ohio N-scale Weekend.  We have 51 tables of vendors at this time, and about 10 n scale model railroad displays.  See you there.

OH, HILLIARD (Columbus, Oh area):  9th Ohio N-scale Weekend 2017; vendor and layout set up Friday May 19, 2017 (not open to public on Friday), show open to public Saturday May 20, 2017 10a-5p; show open to public Sunday May 21, 2017, 9a-3p, Franklin County Fairgrounds, 4100 Columbia St., Hilliard, OH 43026.  Single day admission over 12-$5.00. Participant registration $10.00 (door prize drawing, hat pin, opportunity to purchase evening meal Saturday, $12.00 and event t-shirt S-M-L-XL $12.00; XXL & XXXL $14.00, live auction after the Saturday evening meal).
For N scalers by N scalers. 
Sponsored by Central Ohio N-Trak.
For more information visit:  www.centralohiontrak.org or call Craig Sonnen, 614-915-2308 or email ohionscaleweekend@yahoo.com

[Mike C]

I'll be there !  And did you ever get those locos to run ?  Atlas if I remember . I think the problem may be the motor contacts with the decoder board . You may want to solder some short jumper wires between the board and the motor contactors ......Mike

[casmmr]

On other web sites, the issue of where to stay has arisen.  We could obtain no special rates from motels in the area probably due to the Rock at Crew Stadium and the Koman Race for the Cure.  Some local motels are:  Knight’s Inn Hilliard   614-710-1060      Hilliard Suites      614-529-8118
Hampton Inn      614-334-1800      Red Roof Inn      614-878-9245
Quality Inn      614-771-8944      Holiday Inn      614-335-1150

[C855B]

... We could obtain no special rates from motels in the area probably due to ...

You are also competing with the Hamvention in Dayton, which is the national/international amateur ("ham") radio conference and show. It can draw tens of thousands, and clobbers lodging in a 50-mile radius. When I used to attend that event, I couldn't get any closer than Cincinatti or Richmond.

Since I used to be an event organizer... sort of still am - May and October are very high demand months, obviously due to higher probability of decent weather. Indoor events with a regional appeal that may create lodging demand usually work better in the "border months" of April, June, September and November, although June lodging is impacted by vacation travel.

I'm mentioning this because twice we were interested in attending the event and were put-off by over-the-top lodging costs, if we found something open. I checked several mid-range hotels in the immediate area, and they are already filled for the weekend. I recall the one time we made the show, we had to stay 35 miles west in Harmony; checking that hotel they're already talking "limited availability".

FWIW.