November 5, 2007 ~ Prior Letter

           In twenty-five years of producing gun shows my experience learned is that things they are a’ changing.  Shows used to be fun and profitable, now it seems some time you can make some money or pick up an item or two but most of the fun has gone.  Laws have changed to make gun dealing more time consuming and candidly, even harder to do business or enhance one’s collection – or even to get rid of it.  I have always tried new things for the business, tried making shows comfortable as well as profitable and with Cathy’s help have succeeded at Saratoga, it’s a very nice show.

            But even nice shows can finish last if any of those newly proposed gun ban laws are put in place.  It seems that every month brings forth some proposal to ban guns, ammo or even shows.  Syracuse and Albany could be gone with a writ of the Governor’s pen.  State property is not the proper place for guns, you realize.  Our show in Saratoga is stable but with a play on words even the horse stables could empty out if our Governor and Legislature don’t correct those pending problems soon.  Over one thousand horse breeders have left the state this year alone.  Saratoga without horses is like, well – Saratoga without gun shows.  No one knows what the future brings.

            To make our terrible hobby and pernicious business dealings palatable to the masses of liberalism within our state, we now call our gun shows, Arms Fairs, sounds so much more pleasing.  After twenty-four years in Saratoga, we now want to make our Arms Fair into a Convention of Arms Collectors.  Conventions have power when they come to a city – gun shows breed scorn.  That’s just the way life in today’s world is, boys and girls, you and I must adjust or go and sleep with the dinosaurs.  Here is what I want you to do for me and for our hobby and business in peril. 

            Enclosed you will find our NEACA Member Application; we need to create more numbers and all of you recipients of this letter are the keys to success.  Most of you are already members, if you need to renew, please do so.  Give the application to a friend and sign him or her up.  It’s a good deal; our standard annual fee is a paltry $25.00.  Coming to four shows in Saratoga alone is now $32.00 for one day each.  With membership you can come both days, each show, for FREE.  Plus, come Friday evening during setup and get free food and drink, four different times and come in early Saturday and Sunday with no waiting in line.  If that isn’t enough you get in free to all our other shows.  And for this member promotion, we’re going to waive the $5.00 initial process fee if you sign up now before our next show on December 22 & 23.  Need more incentive, first time ever, save another $5.00 and sign up for two years for $45.00 – no process fee.  Does your wife wait in the car while you check out the show because she won’t pay $8.00 admission?  For $8.00 more per year, you can add a spouse to your membership.  You can’t beat our deal with a stick!  Send it in today so we can show the cities we go into our strength in numbers.  Prior members, we want you back!  For some reason you stopped paying your dues, we need you to start again, same deal.  Renewing members, same deal!  Do it today. 

            We have just scheduled two new shows in the rehabilitated area of Utica, N.Y. at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.  Our last show there was nearly 18 years ago, none since.  Great gun and hunting country and we can fit about 300 eight-foot tables.  Fliers will be in our next mailing but mark these two dates on your calendar, April 4, 5, 6 and August 22, 23, 24, 2008.   There is easy level loading, good lighting, plenty of free public parking and we’ll have reasonable table rent.  I am excited to be back, we always had some fine shows there.  One interesting but sad note, our last show there we had eighty gun dealers; all but about ten are gone.  See how these shows have changed.  Exhibiting then and still with us are the Hartman brothers, Gary Schultheis, John Shattuck, Tony Fidd, John Gunderson, Joe Marino, Roland Fraser, Everett Lester and Cathy and I.  All were members; most still do our shows but about 70 do shows in Heaven or not at all. 

            Enough calamity, we also hope to see those same old timers at our rejuvenated Utica shows.  But we also need the old, the new and the returning members and exhibitors to sign up for our new Arms Fair on December 21, 22, 23 – next month at Saratoga.  We had a December show seven years ago and it went very well.  This new one will become a tradition because we are also hosting our First Annual Arms Convention & Christmas Party, next door to the City Center in The Hotel at Saratoga, in their carpeted Ballroom, Saturday December 22.

            We reduced our table prices for this show by $5.00 each and obtained a great rate at this premium hotel, for $69.00 a night.  Members and exhibitors must mention the NEACA Christmas Party or Arms Fair to register.  The rate is good for Friday, Saturday or Sunday evenings or any combination.  Call 518-584-4000 for reservations immediately, rate will be honored through Thanksgiving weekend.  Don’t wait, rate is regularly upwards of $125.00.

            The reason you need to stay at this hotel for this time period is so you can also enjoy our Convention Dinner, Party & Auction on Saturday night and we will be using hotel rooms.  It is so cheap you can’t afford not to stay, we’ll have a breakfast buffet laid out on Sunday morning.  Sorry, it won’t be free this year but who knows what the future will bring. 

            As for our Convention, we have just received our printed tickets for the evening festivities.  Drinks will be available at 6:00 PM in the reception area as well as registration and Auction viewing.  Large round tables will seat 8 so we have plenty of elbowroom, you may plan accordingly for space.  Dinner will be served consisting of a specialized chicken dish with trimmings.  Event tickets are $35.00 each and include a special drawing portion and also a door prize portion, deposit those in the appropriate area.  Call us for tickets, membership is not required but a head count is needed several days prior to the show, 518-664-9743 or 518-664-7610, leave a message if no one is available.  We will accept all credit cards for membership, tickets or table rent by phone as is usual, again, prior to the show. 

            We’ll have at least a 20-item bucket drawing, tickets available at the dinner.  Also 20 items for a silent auction to be bid on by posting name and bid to a sheet, also a regular auction of around 50 guns or collectibles after dinner.  We will also have a few raffles benefiting the Friends of NRA.  I haven’t decided on a speaker or MC yet, if at all, or haven’t firmed up a visit from Santa but we’ll see.  In any event we will have fun.  You may also bring children if so desired and I will follow up on a special dish for age 10 or under, call me if you need to.  Also looking into a baby sitter for a group of children in our hospitality room at the Hotel.  Santa will come right after dinner, if you wish to arrange for special gifts, call us.  If you want to put an item in the auction or silent auction table you may do so for a $10.00 fee, call me before hand.  Gun transfers have to go through a dealer and I will also do them for buyers or sellers in need for $10.00.

            I know this show is very close to Christmas, next year it will be a bit better and we will work toward a week earlier.  But this date was the only one we could get, the Hotel is giving us a super deal on rooms and best they could on the meal.  It is certainly not the best date but it is our only chance to try something new and get established as a Convention.  At these facilities, including the City Center, Conventions have preference over Trade Shows, which means our show dates can be bumped by a Convention date.  I am trying to put us on a par with the rest of the world.  To do this we really, really need your help.  You need to think hard on why you can’t possibly take tables on this show date.  Why you can’t save money on becoming a member and why you couldn’t possibly have an enjoyable time on Saturday evening, December 22^nd and help our Gun Collecting Cause at the same time.  Gun control should be the ability to hit your target.

            This letter is long but we have a lot happening now and in the future, all can only come to fruition with your help.  Arms Fairs or Gun Shows, as they are now, could become an endangered activity.  I hope new ideas will save them.

  Sincerely, Dave Petronis, Pres., NEACA, Inc 

Prior Letter ~ September 13, 2007

Dear Members and Exhibitors,

            I usually like to start our letters with a bit of wit or wisdom.  For this one I want to tell all you fellows not to chase Wood Nymphs in the Adirondacks.  I found that they turn out to be a sucking succubus that grabs and flails you upon the rock and hurls one against the trees.  I am now dictating this to Cathy while in the prone position; legs up nursing the wounds received trying to capture what I thought was a nymph appearing to me in vision on our land in the Adirondacks.  Again I warn you guys, stay home and be kind to your woman.   It turns out my nymph was a dead tree I grabbed during a slide on a rock on my mountainside near Stony Creek.  With leg twisted I now have a black and blue ankle with torn ligaments.  Never a dull moment.

            Down to business.  We just finished our little show in Amsterdam, NY at Pasqualli’s Restaurant and Conference Center and luckily there weren’t too many people who showed up to bother me while nursing my wounds.  I did manage to buy and sell a few things and my other dealer friends also made a few dollars, even though it was the hottest day in September that we’ve seen in a long time.  Then naturally it rained on Sunday when we started packing up.  I expect that the cloud above me will follow us to Syracuse this weekend.  In actuality, this new little show has potential and they are going to expand the facility and when they do, we will be back with another one.  By the way, the restaurant was excellent and if you’re going by the America’s Best Value Inn on Market Street, stop in, say hello to Pat and have a good meal.

            One reminder that I should pass on is this.  While talking with the NYS COBIS officer visiting our show, doing his duty with the State Police, a customer came by and asked whether he could sell his gun to the exhibitor dealers behind their tables at the show.  I said, yes he could and was reminded by the officer that not all exhibitors were FFL holders and in that case if one bought a gun they would need to complete the NICS background check.  After the customer left the COBIS officer did remind me that it was my responsibility to remind our exhibitors that if they are not a FFL holder any non dealer has to go through the NICS check before buying a gun.  A collector selling their own guns at a gun show is not a dealer and needs to follow the law of non dealer status.  I am reminding all of you of this fact now.

            Our October 12, 13 and 14 Arms Fair at the Saratoga Springs City Center is coming along quite well and again this year, we are hosting the NCCA, Northeast Cutlery Collectors Association.  We already have about 20 tables of their members signed up with promises for about 40. So I would suggest if you haven’t already sent in your applications, that you take this opportunity to fill it out and send it along with your deposit.  Also, if you need rooms, Saratoga is always a busy area and in this time period there are conventions going on and the autumn leaves will be in their full color so rooms will be at a premium, don’t wait to make your hotel reservations.  This show will feature collector knives, collector and investment firearms and hunting guns and all the general accessories that pertain to the upcoming season.  A lot of deposits have been received already and I would expect that this mailing would produce our normal sell out. 

            On our way to Syracuse, we were also invited to stop at a new facility in the outskirts of Utica, one that will probably be about 100 table capacity, a lot of parking and a new building with full snack bar.  This is close to the Turning Stone Casino with hotels nearby and could turn out to be a very nice addition to our show schedule.  We’ll follow up with additional details if all goes well.

            These new shows are more reasons to become a member of our New Eastcoast Arms Collectors Associates or renew your current membership.  As you are aware, we do not require membership to participate in our shows but we do offer discounts on tables and other benefits. Speaking of which we have been talking about a Christmas Party at our December 21, 22, 23 Show in Saratoga Springs.

            I have been trying to figure out ways to make our Gun Shows more community oriented while getting more favorable press coverage.  One of the things we’ve done is to call our shows Arms Fairs, now I would like to insert the word “Convention”.  As a Convention our activities have a better standing than a trade show. A fun way to do this I thought, was to have a Christmas Party that I hope to turn into a  NEACA Winter Convention in the future.  I know this show is just a few days before Christmas as is this planned party but it’s the only time period that is available.  In time we will move into mid December.  I would hope all of you as members will try to help us in this endeavor. 

            We have just consummated an arrangement with the Saratoga Hotel which adjoins the City Center, to host a Christmas Party on Saturday evening, December 22nd in the their Ball Room.  We will sell dinner tickets for $30 each consisting of a full, sit down meal with cash bar and decorative Holiday atmosphere.  We will also have tables for a silent auction similar to Friends of NRA banquets.  Already we have several volunteers who will help with this.  Anyone else wishing to volunteer please let me know.  I’m also considering a live auction of around 50 items, firearms, etc., with a flat $10 or $15 fee for consignments.  We will also have several raffles going on and may send out raffle tickets to members.

            We’ve also arranged for a very special price for rooms at the hotel for our show and dinner at a rate of $69.00 plus tax.  Exhibitors and members will receive a code word to secure reservations at this very special rate.  We will have tickets printed and available shortly.  If anyone has any suggestions or ideas, please pass them on to Cathy or me.  Our December flier is enclosed and you will notice that there is a discounted table rate for this show, we have reduced the tables by $5.00  In addition to that, if anyone sends in the full table amount and requests dinner tickets at the same time, we will reduce the tables another $5.00 each.  You guys do the math, it’s a good deal.  We will also have a breakfast buffet on Sunday morning in the hotel gallery, which adjoins the City Center Exhibit Hall.  These will be separate tickets for around $15.00.

            We’re also thinking about Santa Claus and each of us wrapping a present for one another, then as we all become merry celebrating the holiday season I may even have a contest trying to catch that illusive wood nymph.  Hope all of you can make this Convention idea a reality for our organization.  

July 1, 2007

NEACA Members and Exhibitors, 

            A day after our 45^th wedding anniversary and a few days before we fly to Las Vegas, I’m trying to relax, recuperate from another vacation and rest up for our new trip.  But business always beckons and time waits for no one, Saratoga in August is just a month away.

            Cathy and I celebrated our anniversary together but alone.  We did nothing.  What a joy!  I even ran out of gas putting filets on the grill so didn’t even have to cook.  All the kids were busy and we just chilled out.  But, we did manage a full family vacation by renting a house on the seashore in Rockport, Mass.  Four days of walking shops and beaches were plenty to exhaust us old folks but the kids spent a few days more. Now we’re off for a week in Vegas and hope to come back richer and wiser.  Thank most of you for not sending me all your table money for the August show.  I’ll need it when we get back!

            Our post card advertising is going out next week thanks to Denise and our girls.  Most of the other advertising is already in place and I hope this mailing gets out before we go so you folks will have plenty of time to plan on coming to our August 3, 4, 5 Saratoga Arms Fair.  A lot of regulars didn’t weather the March snowstorm and couldn’t make our last show so pent up desires are definitely there.  Please send in your applications now or your balances for this show.  Getting everything done prior to the event makes Cathy’s life much easier and lets us devote our time to making a better show instead of having to call people.

            October 12, 13 & 14 will be our fall show date and we have again invited the Northeast Cutlery Collectors Association, NCCA, to our event, same time and details as last year.  Our flier is enclosed but we will not assign any specific table location for the October show until after our August Arms Fair.  Thereby giving table preference to those of you who are attending the summer event.

            We have contracted for a Christmas-time show at the City Center and the dates are December 21, 22 & 23, 2007.  We have tentatively booked the ballroom at the Saratoga Hotel adjoining the City Center for a Christmas party and dinner on Saturday night, December 22nd.  We hope to make this an annual event with a small auction, good food and camaraderie, perhaps Santa Claus and a gala convention of our membership.  All details have not been fully worked out but will be forthcoming.  Please plan on attending as a NEACA member or as one’s guest.  We will refer to our December show as our NEACA Convention and special room rates are being discussed for Friday and Saturday.  We need about 30 or so rooms booked and 150 or more dinner guests to make it all plausible.  Always something new coming from our organization but you, the membership is what makes anything work.

            And another new event is coming this September 7, 8 & 9, 2007 to Amsterdam, NY.  We have scheduled a show at the former Holiday Inn, now an America’s Best Value Inn at 10 Market Street; plenty of free parking, easy to get to, a special room rate and fine gun loving area.  The venue is actually in Pasqualli’s Restaurant and Conference Center, an area where we can accommodate about 50 tables.  The management and hotel are very happy to have us and are thrilled that we are bringing in a long overdue gun show.  They are also helping to promote this event in the local area.  Only two months away, flier enclosed, please add this to your things to do list.  For room reservations, please call early, about $50. a night, 518-843-5760 and mention the Gun Show.

            Our NEACA.com website is still doing fine.  We are now getting over six million hits a month and 175,000 visits each month, that is over 4,000 people every day looking at our products or messages.  Very soon it will be time to expand the site so we can host member pages and advertising.  In the coming months we will devote our time to that endeavor and to our Saratoga Springs Arms Fairs.

            After 45 years of marriage and 35 years of being in business together, Cathy and I have the urge to cut back somewhat and start enjoying those golden years.  Retirement is not in the immediate future but better time allotment certainly is.  So, we will continue to do our best in promoting the Saratoga Arms Fairs considered by many to be the premiere shows in the northeast; work on our Convention idea to grow our membership and remain a leader in our business, and to maintain and innovate our web presence to provide for ourselves and our members.

            Among those plans we would also like to sell our four story brick building in Mechanicville.  Our Otis elevator services four floors with 3,000 square feet of space each and we have both a Main Street location and one adjacent to the Champlain Canal.  For younger folks there are still a lot of growth opportunities here.  Our market price will be around $550,000.  We have several other locations for us to remain in the gun business but we really don’t need 12,000 square feet to maintain.  Anyone looking for a new future let us know.

            We’ll also have a new sale at our store this August 9, 10 & 11 just to keep pecking away at our over sized inventory.  We’ll probably have a flier at the August show.  With that we’ve got to start packing for Vegas, please remember I’ll need money on our return.  Send in your table applications and check the mailing label for membership expiration.  Have a very pleasant summer and see you in Saratoga.

                                                                                                            Sincerely, Cathy & Dave Petronis

April 25, 2007

Members and Exhibitors,

           Is spring really here? Or are we experiencing that “global warming” phenomenon that brought early buds in January, miserably cold weather in February, a freak March snow storm that nearly ruined our Saratoga Springs Arms Fair and then April snow storms, massive flooding, a record warm day and now cold again.  Has spring really sprung or will we miss summer and see a cold spell for our August Saratoga Arms Fair?  So far this year’s weather has been crazy.     

            But, even if the Artic polar bears have to swim a longer distance between icebergs -- life goes on.  We who buy and sell guns still need to get out and about.  Our job at NEACA headquarters, in glorious downtown Mechanicville, is to bring you, the general public, and other dealers together to deal with guns.  We’ve got some shows you might want to attend and even another sale at our own location. 

            Our public attendance in March at Saratoga was the reverse of usual.  A fairly full show, the weather did scare a few dealers to cancel, but we managed to make it work and the crowd on Sunday nearly made up for only a thousand people on Saturday.  Really, the big problem was parking -- not the traveling. All history now, August 3, 4 and 5 is our next Saratoga Arms Fair and I think the folks who couldn’t get out in March will have pent up emotions to come see us in the summer.  We’ve had loads of phone calls inquiring about our next Saratoga show date.  The flier is enclosed but remember to find a hotel early.  Saratoga is always the place to be and summer time is fun time with the Racino and Harness Track plus the thoroughbred Flat Track and Polo.  A busy, busy place where the streets are crowded through midnight.

            Even with the snowstorm on Friday evening and naturally all the hype that went with it from the weather forecasters who managed to scare a good deal of the public plus our dealers, overall the show was very good. Cathy and I lost money from admissions naturally and there weren’t the usual amount of people so the ratio of public to dealers was off but some of the dealers did very well.  We also took a lot of new memberships and after the show we still had lots of calls and people stopping at the shop inquiring about our next event.  The snow certainly took its toll and this was the first time in March in over 20 years that weather was a factor.  One of the disappointing facts was that Cathy did a lot more advertising and we sent out just under 10,000 post cards and perhaps that’s why the show was still good but it certainly was down.  We have had a lot of new inquiries about our shows from other dealers and August should prove to be a very good event.

            Our fall show will be on October 12, 13 and 14 as it was last year and we have scheduled a new show just before Christmas at Saratoga on December 21, 22 and 23.  We had one at the same time back at the turn of the century and it went really well.  More to follow on that show.  If postal weight allows we are also including the October flier.  However, we will not assign any table locations for that show until after our August event. Dealers at the August Arms Fair will have preference for the following show.  Also our knife-dealing friends from NCCA will again be invited in October.

            We are also returning to Herkimer at the VFW on Mohawk Street, flier enclosed, on May 18, 19 and 20 and will probably schedule another in the fall.  I’ve always enjoyed our little show there except for the motel situation.  This time we have managed to get a room at the Herkimer Motel, behind Denny’s and they still have a few rooms.  Call 315-866-0490 for reservations.  Lots of gun history in that area as well as our country’s historical past from the French and Indian War forward.  Stuff always comes in and I always sell guns.

            Plattsburgh is back on our schedule too.  Instead of the K of C Hall on Boynton Avenue, which was sold and converted to something else, we are right next door at the VFW #125 where the friends of NRA dinner is also held. The date is June 1, 2 and 3 and our flier is enclosed.  We’ve had some very productive shows in Plattsburgh and there is a variety of good motels nearby. 

            If you folks know about those computer things then you can actually go “on line” and download by PDF all of our fliers, check on motels and restaurants or even find a map to get where you want to go.  Our website at www.NEACA.com has a lot of information, news, and guns and stuff for sale.  Soon we will announce a new sale at our Hudson River Trading Company store on May 11 and 12, the Friday and Saturday before Mothers’ Day.  We had about 150 people show up for our last one but didn’t even make a dent!  Of course, we also had a snowstorm on the first day of our sale.  God is testing me! 

            With all the new gun laws that are being introduced in our New York State Assembly by the Democrats and now with Elliot Spitzer as Governor, one never knows what the morrow may bring.  Watch your NRA –ILA alerts and the local papers for laws being proposed and do your part by sending a letter or making a phone call to Albany expressing your concern.  My belief, no matter what New York State Senator Schumer has to say about his “believing in the second amendment rights”, I wouldn’t trust him one iota.  And when he and Clinton and Sheldon Silver get together it should run shivers up your spine.  Shiver my timbers with Spitzer, Silver and Schumer at the helm!

            And with that, happy sailing or as ‘ol Roy used to say “Happy trails to you, until we meet again.”   In Herkimer, Plattsburgh and Saratoga.        

Sincerely, Cathy & Dave Petronis                   

September 11, 2006   Members & Exhibitors,

            Here it is five years later and the only reason Cathy and I feel safer is that we still own guns.  During the dark hurricane in New Orleans the folks that had them were being sought by the local government in fear they might just be using guns to keep what they own and wanted to protect.  New buyers of homes near long operating shooting ranges now want to close the ranges down because of noise and safety.  And if Schumer and the possibility of a new democrat Congress get in and have their way this fall, gun shows might follow the path of the do-do bird.  But, thank the heavens and pro-gun people everywhere our Saratoga Springs Arms Fair is still going to happen this coming October 13, 14 & 15.

            Those sharp, sticky things called knives, bayonets and swords are already high on the list of liberals who are setting their sights on the elimination or control of those nasty knives and box cutters.  That is why we are very pleased to announce the alliance of the Northeast Cutlery Collectors Association and New Eastcoast Arms Collectors Associates in this October Show.  Long time NEACA member and exhibitor, Art Green of Gloversville, NY and prominent NCCA member was the influential force in making this happen.  Thank you, Arthur.  He also has diligently advertised this cooperative event in knife and blade publications.

            So, not only should you exhibitors be bringing hunting guns and accessories to this show for the upcoming season, you should also bring out those old blades tucked away for possible enticement to this new audience.  And, of course, this also affords the opportunity for you knife folks to bring along those guns and other sporting collectables not normally seen or brought to your own shows.  Let us make this next opportunity of meetings into an exchange of mutual wants.

            We are extending our NEACA member table discount rate to the NCCA members for this October Arms Fair.  They simply need to present their current NCCA card for verification.  There are nearly 20 tables already paid for from the NCCA with others requested.  And with our deposits from prior shows we have over a hundred NEACA tables deposited and the inevitable “check is in the mail” for another 30 or 40 more so we are in good shape for another sell-out.  We will send fliers and discount coupons to Syracuse, Marlboro, Rochester and Springfield Shows, which are all in the preceding month to ours. 

            We also send out an additional 5000 discount coupons to our prior area show attendees and will begin the local advertising 2 weeks prior to the show.  You can help by copying the flier and posting it in your gun club, local gas station or work bulletin board.  Personal promotion by each exhibitor or member can reach a lot of new and otherwise missed people.  It is hard for me to believe in this age of instant communication that I find so many people who don’t own a computer or have e-mail, who don’t receive a daily paper, who don’t fill out door prize coupons or know where they live to receive a mailed notice of our show, who don’t subscribe to Gun List or other publications and for some reason still come to our show – it is a lot about word of mouth or going to prior or other shows.  But to get to the same person with all the above attributes who doesn’t attend gun shows – you need a personal flier staring him in the face or a “by chance glimpse or listen” to one of our ads.  It ain’t easy reaching the right people and getting new folks to come on in.  But we work at it and so far have succeeded in getting our share of good exhibitors and good buyers.  Attested to by our sell-out shows.  And this show also has Art Green doing some of the same work in different areas.

            Get your application in; I have a few wall spaces left of groups of three with one table perpendicular to the wall, in an “L” form.  I believe all or most of the front half section is already deposited for – so if you didn’t heed my warning at the last few shows about depositing for your prior location you are probably out of luck and unless you send in pretty fast you may not get space at all.  We will be in Syracuse the weekend of September 16 & 17 also.

            Also, members, remember that only exhibitors are allowed in on Friday until 6:00 PM.  If you do not have a table please come only after 6:00 PM. Anyone wishing to sign up for membership may also do so at that time.  Exhibitors, remember that badges are for you and your bonafide partner, not for someone who simply asks you for a badge.  There is a limit of two. Our dealer set-up time is just that – exclusively for table holders.  Our buffet also starts at 6PM for the normal free food and drink.  And, exhibitors, you are also asked to stay and remain open at least to 8PM on Friday – that is why we provide you with free food and drink.  If all you guys consider this a waste of time we certainly can eliminate the practice – it is a lot of work and expense and if not appreciated by staying open, we can change the practice.  Let us know.

            The hunting season is right on the heels of our show so do bring your hunting guns to this show.  It also marks the end of our year’s shows.  We have nothing that is scheduled until February 11, 2007 in Lake George.  That flier is also included.  Please remember to read the show Rules and Regulations on the reverse of our October Arms Fair flier and sign the reverse. Please pay your membership dues if up on October 1, 2006 – see your mailing label for your due date.  Please have all paperwork and payments in to us two weeks prior to the show if you want the member discount rate.  And have all paperwork and payments in to the Secretary’s table prior to set-up on Friday evening.

            If you haven’t been to our www.NEACA.com website, which garners over 3 million hits a month, which those of you not in the know, that’s a lot, please do visit.  While perusing the site you will find that our E-mail address is on each page.  Please respond and send us your E-mail address.