Hamvention setup was in full swing when we arrived midday on Wednesday, and we were quickly led to our site to get settled in for the next 5 nights. The campsites are close together on grass, but the advantage of being just a short walk from the hamfest activities is huge. There were several of our friends who parked nearby.
Thursday night, we went to El Meson Mexican Restaurant and Cantina in nearby West Carrollton, Oh, with a group of ham/RV friends. The restaurant is owned by a couple from Columbia who are also hams and RVers.
Hamvention officially started on Friday and lasted until Sunday afternoon. This event was moved from Hara Arena in Dayton (which closed) to the Green County Fairgrounds in Xenia, OH. Moving an event that draws over 25,000 people from all over the world is not an easy task, but the 600+ volunteers did a great job overall. Unfortunately, it rained at least once everyday, so the flea market in the racetrack infield was muddy with so many people walking through. But Hamvention proved its value once again with the opportunities to learn about, look at, and purchase anything to do with the amateur radio hobby as well as other items. For us, its mostly a social event as we meet old friends, and make a few new ones.
Saturday evening, we had dinner at Rob's Restaurant in Brookville, OH with another group who have been going there for many years.
Our camping area (one of two) was in the upper left corner. Public parking was out of the picture at the bottom along with 4 remote parking lots that had bus transportation to the gate.
Click and drag to look around
I hope it worked out for everyone, however our news did point out how many RVers had to be towed out of the muddy field. 46 I think was the number. There is so much more to access from Xenia rather than the old Hara Arena. That place was in terrible condition as the owner failed to make improvements. You just missed tornado warnings from Xenia and across three counties this week.
ReplyDeleteoops, they weren't all Rvs. They have confirmed that we had 3 tornadoes touch down.
ReplyDeleteI can't verify how many cars had to be towed out of the parking lot - we heard of at least 7. We were in the campground behind the racetrack and know of at least 4 RV's of various sizes that needed help. We saw two large tow trucks standing by one evening. Our site was toward the front and we had no trouble on Monday morning when we left. Hope the damage from the storms was minimal.
ReplyDeleteThe Dayton Daily news reported 30,000 people attended. There are plans for next year to coordinate with the universities to use their dormitories to help with the hotels which were booked to capacity. There was a mention of using busses to get people from the universities to the event. I didn't realize that Hara Arena had been the Hamvention host for 52 years. The EF1 tornado hit businesses north of Fairborn along state route 235, no injuries. After that it was mostly barns, roofs, trees, etc.
ReplyDeleteGene S. Thanks for your comments and report. I'm sure there will be ongoing tweaking and improvements by the Hamvention committee over the next few years as they get a better feel for what is needed.
ReplyDelete