Slingshots in the Smokies 2017.May30th-Jun 4th.

    This is supposed to be a time for Slingshot owners to get together and have fun, see other bikes, get ideas, ride and make new friends. This will be our first time at Maggie Valley. I understand vendors and Slingshot participants paying fees to cover expenses but how can you justify charging the people in the area who have been through so much with the fires and devistation last year in that area? Haven't they been through enough? Now you want to charge them an excessive amount of money for what could be a fun day out with their families? We will already be invading their small town that they have happily opened up for us. I feel this is a slap in the face to the Slingshot owners and their families that have already paid to attend and any locals who would want to come out and spend time looking around and ask questions! This is bullshit!!! @ivor you will not be charging for family or locals.

    Quote from Bubblehead

    This could be the beginning of the end of SSITS sponsored event. I wonder now if this is why Slingshots in the Adirondacks was actually cancelled.


    I love riding my SS and meeting new owners and old friends and don't mind traveling as do many, many others here, so I don't need a sponsored event to meet up and ride with family.


    We just had one in Clarksville, no vendors, no entry fee and 20 SS showed up and had an awesome time. It sounds to me that certain people are turning this into a business to support their lifestyle.

    Nobody gets outta here ALIVE

    I do not feel people should be charged to come in and look around. If the vendors have things to sell to non Slingshot people that would be great. Food is always a good things to generate money as well.


    I can see if there was a fee for parking because it will probably be very crowded this year for people non registered / locals but $10 or less To charge at a per person basis seems steep.


    If you were charging money for walk-ins what would they get as an insentive? Just to look around isn't enough... Money or meat raffle? Options to win some Slingshot parts?


    I will set up a kissing booth!! haha


    Pucker up Buttercup!!! :00008172:

    I might not be right but I can sure sound like it

    If @ivor decides after this thread to charge visitors $10 per person to come in and look at our SS, I'll just park mine outside the gates so they can look for free. I'm sorry for my ranting, but that idea is just a load of crap.

    Life is simple ... you're either "Qualified or you're Not'

    I have read every post and thought about this a lot. I want to believe that Ivor is not trying to gouge locals, pry dollars out of SS families and is trying to cover costs associated with the event.


    With that said I feel springing this on already register participants just weeks before the event is not only suspect, but rude and disrespectful.


    It comes across as "I need to cover the cost of my new RV, trailer, and ????"


    I am still very excited to see all my friends and those that are family (which is pretty much everybody) and to ride the twisties.


    You will find me and probably @Painter sitting in our chairs in the Comfort Inn parking lot drinking our beers. Please stop by and say hello.

    Proud Member of SOG!!!!!!!

    2015 SL (Yellow) Traded becuase it kept melting

    2018 SLR LE with DDM SuperCharger!!! I guess the gray ones are faster...

    Like the others here, I don't agree with charging outside/walk ins at the last moment. Here is it 3 weeks away, and NOW this is mentioned? In the case of @KayTwo and @sideseatdriver, they just recently decided to come after having the new job position and move. No one to watch the little ones, so they have to leave the Sling to come up. Which will be punishment in itself. Now it will cost them $30 (or someone) a day to get in to be able to see the vendors about possible purchases, and the vendors have paid premium to get their space to show their offerings?


    I didn't sign up for any rides. I am signed up and paid for the dinner with the package. Nearly all the $$ I put down to register for this event is of no cost to the ones putting it on, other than the food that will be eaten and the T shirt, and there's no way I will ever eat enough to offset that cost. I did the dinner hoping to visit and get to know many more from here, that's the only reason.


    So I guess what I'm saying here in a nutshell is this. I've looked forward to this for months, and been registered since last year. I have kept getting more and more excited as the time grows closer. I thought it was more about family, more about the community, and after 2 years of running this event, that the planners should have enough of a feel for true cost. To spring this on those that are not registered 3 weeks before the event, is in bad taste. I've had nothing but optimism for this event up until now. I just got dealt a serious dose of pessimism and am starting to feel that it's not only commercialized, but also an attempt at an easy last second money grab.


    Coming from an old school (hate that term, but it fits here) biker, it comes down to this. Loyalty, Honesty, Trust and Respect. This event just took a hit on all mentioned. Had hoped to make this an annual for us going forward, but this may be the one and only for us. Time will tell. I hope to meet everyone this trip, just in case...


    *** G_H tosses a nickle (that was worth more than $.02) on the stage and walks away ***

    This is the best SS event. I'm sure it takes hundreds of hours of planning and work to pull something like this off. The venue is not free either. I'm sure if you divided the hours that are put in to the logistics of something this large and divided it into profit it's probably pennies per hour. Any one of us could surely make a lot more money doing a lot less work. Let's not ruin it by grandstanding over minimal dollars when compared to the tens of thousands we put into our toys and mods. The vendors make money on this too. The town makes a lot of money on this event also and the locals would not like to see it ruined either.
    I don't see anyone else stepping up to organize and work hard on something like this and if they did, I'm sure it wouldn't be out of the kindness of their hearts and to lose money.
    I appreciate the fact that Ivor has worked hard putting this together and I don't begrudge him some reward for that effort. I'm happy he does this and look forward to many more.

    Quote from Flybuddy

    This is the best SS event. I'm sure it takes hundreds of hours of planning and work to pull something like this off. The venue is not free either. I'm sure if you divided the hours that are put in to the logistics of something this large and divided it into profit it's probably pennies per hour. Any one of us could surely make a lot more money doing a lot less work. Let's not ruin it by grandstanding over minimal dollars when compared to the tens of thousands we put into our toys and mods. The vendors make money on this too. The town makes a lot of money on this event also and the locals would not like to see it ruined either.
    I don't see anyone else stepping up to organize and work hard on something like this and if they did, I'm sure it wouldn't be out of the kindness of their hearts and to lose money.
    I appreciate the fact that Ivor has worked hard putting this together and I don't begrudge him some reward for that effort. I'm happy he does this and look forward to many more.

    First of all let me say I love you Flybuddy like a Brother. I agree that this is "The event of the year" and I too want Ivor to make money for his efforts. I have never "Grandstanded" over the price of registration or any extras incurred. It is simply the surprise of what I think is an unreasonable cost for someone to walk in.


    I do have friends down there who may come by for a couple of hours and if I'm in the fairground they will be hit with an entry fee just to see me? Or.... in the case of a Member who can't take his Sling but would like to stop by with his family to meet Forum friends, the charge makes me feel that he is being treated as an "Outsider".


    Contrary to popular belief, some Sling owners make monthly payments to own it, make SSITS their "yearly vacation", save up to buy their first Mod and yearn to partake in what has become a true "Family" of enthusiasts.


    Renting the fairground in itself was a distraction from the original event purpose but became a necessity because of shear numbers. The additional cost should have been offset by an increase in registration fees or even a "reach out" to the Slingshot community. But with the massive increase of participation that additional cost should already be covered IMO.
    I'm not bitching about the event or cost but only the "walk in fee" and the way it was inacted. It's really leaving a bad taste for me.

    Quote from Flybuddy

    This is the best SS event. I'm sure it takes hundreds of hours of planning and work to pull something like this off. The venue is not free either. I'm sure if you divided the hours that are put in to the logistics of something this large and divided it into profit it's probably pennies per hour. Any one of us could surely make a lot more money doing a lot less work. Let's not ruin it by grandstanding over minimal dollars when compared to the tens of thousands we put into our toys and mods. The vendors make money on this too. The town makes a lot of money on this event also and the locals would not like to see it ruined either.
    I don't see anyone else stepping up to organize and work hard on something like this and if they did, I'm sure it wouldn't be out of the kindness of their hearts and to lose money.
    I appreciate the fact that Ivor has worked hard putting this together and I don't begrudge him some reward for that effort. I'm happy he does this and look forward to many more.

    I see it a little differently - I do not think anyone here begrudges Ivor making a fair profit. I am sure everyone commenting here is a registered attendee and the additional charges are for other folks who may not have the disposable income we have. If he had added another $10 to everyone's registration no one would have batted an eye. The optics on this are bad and it will be hard to spin it as a positive.

    I might not be right but I can sure sound like it

    Gotta agree with Flybuddy on this. I agree with a fee, but only a small one for non-participants. Charging $25 to hang out with owners/vendors p/day or $10/$5 (adult/child) p/day to look around is exorbitant coupled with the fact on how do you keep from knowing which is which. Maybe this is happening already, but in my estimation, after reading this thread, why not have a Slingshot Task Force/council set up for future SSITS events that includes a few folks who have the expertise (i.e. lawyer, business owners, etc) that can provide feedback and recommendations to IVOR in not only fees but what events can be added or discarded. I personally would like to see a dyno runoff for most HP, etc, find a local track set up for grudge races, etc, and/or just fun stuff for laughs. We need more than just rides and a dinner as the main course. Ivor has done a great job in planning this event but who decided on the fees, events etc? In any event, at the end, we need to offer our assessment on what went well and what didn't to SlingshotRoadsters and have an after-action-report provided to participants.


    Bottom line is, I appreciate this event and hopefully everyone keeps an open mind and provide constructive criticism so we can continue this event and make it better every year. Personally, if it keeps growing like it has, maybe even a fall SSITS event could be added.

    @Flybuddy, I understand and even tend to agree with your statement overall. I do appreciate that @ivor and the group has put for the effort it takes to do this, and they should make a profit. I've put on poker runs, and those are only one day, but I know what work goes on that the participants never see. This is even on a much more grand spectrum. I respectfully disagree firmly on only one thing, and that is what my comment was about earlier. They have run this for 2 years. To decide to make a change 3 weeks before the event and charge for walk in entry is not the respectable thing to do. Had they done this when they announced the event would have been somewhat different. Personally, I wouldn't have thought it best even then, I would rather pay more up front as a participant or vendor than to charge the walk in people. I'd have not personally have batted an eye at $25 more for participant entry fee. Makes more sense to me to try to get others interested in the hobby, that might be future participants. I wouldn't have an issue with a donation box at the entry point or exit point. But to charge walk ins an entry fee and to announce that 3 weeks before the event starts (after some have already made plans and reservations to come just to meet people and see the new products) seems poorly planned at best, and disrespectful at worst. And I think it will just keep some of the curious out, and really not raise that much in the way of revenues.

    The one thing I love about my SS is the look kids get when they see me at the gas station or running errands. I let kids sit in it have their pictures taken in it. It does take a little fun out of it when parents who are accompanying their kids have to pay a fee just to see a slingshot. Maybe this is one reason Polaris isn't coming. Probably not but you never know. I'm still really looking forward to my first trip to MV