Had a chance to visit the annual PA farm show yesterday in Harrisburg, which for those outside PA is held annually and is a combination livestock exhibition, 4H contest, country fair, auction, rodeo, ag industry show, etc. I'm sure other states have similar exhibitions.

While not immediately recognizable as something of concern to the participants in this board, there's tens of thousands of people that pass through the farm show arena and a good many are curiosity and entertainment seekers-its not just ranchers and farmers. There's enough such folks that such decidedly non-agricultural concerns as the National Guard and the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency had booths.

So did Operation Lifesaver. Their two train O scale layout had a bunch of youngsters enjoying the trains.

Pennsylvania is a hotbed of tourist/preservation/heritage operations and a whole bunch are a two hour or less drive away- RRMPA, Strasburg, Gettysburg, WK&S, Steamtown all come to mind. I can't think of anybody running in January (except maybe Strasburg on a limited schedule?).

Has anybody ever thought about getting a booth in this or a similar show? Does anybody already engage in such marketing?

P.S. I have no idea what the booths cost-but I'm guessing there's some reasonably priced space-since many small & family concerns are there.

How about the cooperative effort that created the "Railroad Heritage Trail" marketing concept a few years ago? BTW, is PA still doing that?

dave

Strasburg's season doesn't start until next month. Steamtown has a train thi Saturday.

J