Wayne, MJ and all,
As I mentioned to the CR list shortly after the show, I thought you guys did a great job of transitioning the show from Greensboro to Leesburg.
Considering how many things changed, location, promoters venues, etc., the transition seemed pretty seamless, and I have to say this Cirque experience (for me) was right up there with the best ones I had in Greensboro. I remember leaving Dale's show with a post show high, and I had the same "buzz on" after this one.
Venue. I thought the show venue at the fair grounds was just fine. If it had been cooler outside the building would have been great. Yes, maybe a little rustic or agrarian, but there was a lot of space and the bikes on display had a lot of room around them so it was easy to view and photograph them.
The lighting in the building was quite good I thought. The colors of the bikes looked pretty true. I remember being at the hand Made Show in San Jose and the lighting affected the way everyone's bikes looked, and trust me it wasn't flattering.
I loved some of the pictures folks took in the building, like the one of Velo O's fender display in the foreground and the great outdoors beyond. There were also a few bike shots with the same done in the same fashion.
Judging. Judging Is always a tough one. It's very hard work to be a judge,(I've done it before at other events) and usually there's not much time to get the job finished. I know the judges always do the best they can with what they have to work with. I think having "original", or "restored" on the bikes display card would help everyone, including the judges understand what they were looking at. Should also be a "restored", but with a patina'd finish, (meaning restored but not to show room condition) along side the original and restored boxes.
I have always felt that the promoter should read off the 3rd runner up, 2nd runner up etc. before they call out the winner in a particular category. This gives more people a chance to see where there bikes were in the line up. It also allows everyone to see what the winner was judged against. This would add about 10 min. to the show, but would be very meaningful to many. Everyone wants to know how close they were to what was considered to be the best... I felt this has been a short coming since the first Cirque I attended, I hope it will be included in next years event. It would help more people feel validated, and included. Instead of going home and telling family and friends,,, "I didn't win anything again", you could go home and say" my bike was "almost" as good as, lets say ,Gary Delarosa's gleaming beauty!!! that would feel good wouldn't it?
Just a few thoughts. Again it was great to see everyone, as I mentioned before, cool seeing Dale have the time to relax and enjoy the show. Wayne and MJ, great job, you guys really came through on this one.
Best to all,
peter weigle
<austin@sweetpeabicycles.com>; <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>; <JoeB@bringheli.com>; <milanospt@aol.com>; <msh1bw@sbcglobal.net>; <natalie@sweatpeabicycles.com>; <roberson3084@comcast.net>; <stephen.p.kinne@hsbcpb.com>; <whiteind@sonic.net>; "Ahearne Cycles" <info@ahearnecycles.com>; "Alan Schaeffer" <alan_schaeffer@sbcglobal.net>; "Bina Bilenky" <artisrty@bilenky.com>; <brianbaylis@juno.com>; "Carol Johnson - Miles Ahead, Inc." <carol@milesaheadevents.com>; "Charles Lathe" <charles@cohobicycles.com>; "Coast Cycles" <johnnycoast@coastouttabrooklyn.com>; "Dale Brown" <oroboyz@aol.com>; "dave bohm" <davebohm@cox.net>; "David Wages" <dwages1@wi.rr.com>; "Gary Prange" <sssink@skybest.com>; "Gregory Townsend" <gregorytownsend@verizon.net>; "Joe Bell" <joebell@cox.net>; "Johnny Coast" <johnny@coastouttabrooklyn.com>; "Larry Black" <Larry@bike123.com>; "Maurice J Bresnahan" <mobici@juno.com>; "Mauricio Rebolledo" <mo@rebolledocycles.com>; "Mitch Pryor" <info@mapbicycles.com>; "Nye, Peter J." <Peter.Nye@nreca.coop>; "Peter Weigle" <jpweigle@sbcglobal.net>; "Richard Sachs" <richardsachs@juno.com>; "Wayne Bingham" <blkmktbks@gmail.com>; "Wissahickon Cyclery" <wisscycles@gmail.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 11:55 AM Subject: Cirque 2008 retrospective (quite long)
Well, the 11th annual Cirque, and the first Cirque in Leesburg Virginia, is officially history. MJ and I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our great sponsors, all those who volunteered their time and energy to help, all those who agreed to contribute their time and talents as presenters, and especially all those who just made the commitment to attend. Collectively, everyone came together to enjoy another Cirque and share in the community that the Cirque has become. We realize that all of you took a chance on us, and put faith in our ability to pull this thing off for the first time. We genuinely appreciate your collective trust and commitment. It's been quite a learning experience, and not without our fair share of difficulties and challenges. Nevertheless, in the overall context, MJ and I are quite happy with the results. We both come away from this year's event energized and enthusiastic about continuing and improving the Cirque next year.
Obviously, there is room (and need) for improvement in a number of areas. There were also a few things that had an adverse impact on the event, and which we had no control over. I'm obviously referring to\u2026
THE WEATHER
What most people unfamiliar with the area don't understand is that the weather we experienced, with the extreme high heat and humidity, is very rare for this time of year. That was August weather. In fact, new high temperature records were set on all three days. Normal/average weather for this period is about 65 (low)/80 (high) degrees and low-to-moderate humidity. As I write this, it's 70 degrees with low humidity, pretty much a perfect day. A number of people have suggested moving the event to early May to avoid the high temperatures. If we were to move the Cirque back to the first weekend in May, the weather would be even more unpredictable, and quite likely very cool and wet. Two weeks prior to the Cirque weekend, I wore a thermal vest and arm warmers on an early ride. The weather forecast for next week predicts highs in the 70's, so you just never know. We can't guarantee that we won't have high temperatures again, but the law of averages suggest otherwise. Subscribing to the "lightning rarely strikes the same place twice" theory, we are committing to the same relative time period next year, June 5, 6 & 7, 2009.
Some people have commented that attendance this year was down from prior Cirques, but statistics suggest otherwise. We were on par with recent years in most areas, and even increased our numbers in some. Despite this being our first year in a new area, and being burdened with the extreme heat, we had 60+ vendor spaces reserved, had 140 or more bikes on display, and more than 500 people in attendance on Sunday. We see this as very positive sign, and hope to increase those numbers significantly next year, particularly with regard to one-day attendees. One of our goals for the future is to organize and promote Sunday as more of a multi-faceted "Expo", and make it more of an attractive destination for a single-day audience. This will be challenging in a number of ways, particularly with regard to\u2026
THE SHOW VENUE
One of our major challenges is finding a facility that is large enough, yet affordable enough to keep costs low for vendors and attendees alike. Choices in Loudoun County are limited because we've outgrown most school and recreation facilities. The Loudoun Fairgrounds is attractive for a number of reasons. It's in a rural, very bicycle-friendly setting, there are a number of buildings available to us (allowing expansion opportunities), the cost is low, and the facility is still easily accessible to the entire region.
Keeping swap vendors, frame builders and other commercial vendors, and show bikes together (where possible) has helped give the Cirque its unique communal atmosphere. However, maintaining this approach may be difficult. The main barn at the Fairgrounds is 15000 square feet, and it's still not big enough to house everything. We already have to spill over into another building and a couple tents. There is another, nicer, two level building (Sykes Hall, where the restrooms are) where there's AC and tile floors, but at approximately half the floor space, would necessitate sectioning off some part of the event. Another option, of course, would be to move closer in (toward Washington) and go "upscale" in a more formal exhibition facility. We are looking at a couple of options, but such a move would almost certainly significantly increase the cost of staging, exhibiting at and attending the Cirque. One of the primary questions here is do we want the Cirque to have a more formal, trade-show feel, or be more of a festival atmosphere. Obviously, no matter what course we pursue, something will have to give, and we are contemplating our options and looking at viable alternatives.
With regard to the main barn building at the Fairgrounds, a number of people have suggested that it's too "agricultural", and not a "nice enough" space. I think the building would have been more acceptable to everyone if two things had been different. First impressions are not only important, but lasting. The heat certainly was a major factor, as was the condition and cleanliness of the building. When we first looked at the Fairgrounds and struck a deal with them almost a year ago, the main barn was in much better condition. Much cleaner and the floor much more "groomed" with chipped stone. We're not sure if maybe they "refresh" the building once a year in prep for the county fair or what, but we intend to find out. The governing board was very supportive of us using the facility, but the caretakers, who are our direct contact, were often less than helpful, even to the point of being obstructive. They were supposed to move a bunch of stuff out of the building two months earlier, but had not done that as late as the Wednesday prior to the event. And then they even told us they couldn't move it all, and we'd just have to work around it. We finally got most (but not all) of the stuff moved, but not without a struggle. We may be willing to pay for, or a least contribute to "cleaning and prepping" the building to create a nicer environment, if the cost is reasonable and would only result in marginal increases to participants We are trying to organize a meeting with the board to discuss all this, and explore options for the future. Irrespective of which direction we choose for staging the event, we are confident in the basic structure of\u2026
THE CIRQUE PROGRAM
While we know that there are areas where we need to change and improve, we are still pretty happy with this year's event overall. The primary characteristics of the Cirque we want to maintain are the "community" feel, the interactive social climate and the time to ride and just hang-out without being too structured. At the same time, we want to build on those aspects of the event that expand the knowledge-base and offer entertainment and fun for participants. We have received lots of positive feedback on the hotel, and for having so much in one central location. Not having to think about driving or finding a ride to the seminars or dinner seemed to be very well received by everyone. We've also received positive comments on riding in the area, even though we lacked ride leaders in many cases (something we will definitely improve next year). We obviously benefit from the rural setting and easy access to the W&OD bike path.
One of the most exciting aspects of the Cirque this year was the participation of so many "first-timers", particularly the "newer" frame builders and "niche" vendors, not only just attending, but displaying their products and services. We very much like the idea of providing a forum and a venue for this segment of the bicycle market. We made a conscious effort this year to "officially" expand the focus of the Cirque to be more inclusive of builders, particularly newer builders. We even changed our tag-line from just "Celebrating Vintage Bicycles" to include "and the Artisans and Craft Persons Carrying on the Traditions". We have been fortunate to have a number of well known, well established custom builders as part of our core constituency for several years now, and we want to expand on that base. We see the Cirque as an East Coast opportunity for builders to connect with a broader audience. Our location in the greater Washington area, with close proximity to other large enthusiasts markets in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York to the North and Southern Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia to the South puts us in a unique position, with the potential to attract a large audience, if we choose to more actively promote this side of the event.
Another area we will be re-evaluating is the judging and awards for the Show segment of the Cirque. We feel that the show is an important and essential component, but judging criteria and the presentation of awards have always been a little controversial. The primary reason for this is that there has never been any established criteria by which the bikes are judged. We are considering putting together a small committee to examine the issue and make recommendations. We're not sure we want to get too serious about this, and we want to maintain the "fun" aspect of the show, but we feel its worth at least considering a more formal approach to judging and awards.
For next year, we will also be re-examining the Auction, the Seminar series and the Banquet, to try and evaluate whether they should stay essentially as-is, how they should change and/or evolve, and if they are, indeed, to remain. We want to keep all aspects of the Cirque viable and engaging to the widest segment of participants. We realize that the Cirque has grown to become somewhat of a double-sided event, comprised of vintage enthusiasts, collectors and general fans, as well as frame builders and other commercial interests. These groups may have very different perspectives. We have already received comments and suggestions from a number of people, and welcome more from everyone. What aspects of the Cirque do you like best? What don't you like? Do you want the Cirque to have a more formal, trade-show feel, or have a less structured, informal festival atmosphere? What would the frame builders and other commercial vendors like the Cirque to be for them? Do they want a trade-show structure and a nicer exhibit space, similar to NAHBS? Is the Cirque a viable and productive outlet? Should the Cirque grow, or should we try and keep it smaller and more intimate? These are just some of the questions we are already asking ourselves, and we suspect that other are contemplating the same things. Le Cirque du Cyclisme is for all of you, the Cirque community. Tell us what you think.
This post is being sent to more than the Classic Rendezvous mailing list, because the Cirque has expanded beyond just that group of people. We have lots of ideas, but we don't want to pursue them blindly and in a vacuum. We value all suggestions and opinions. The more we educate ourselves, the better positioned we will be to organize a great event.
Thanks for listening.
Wayne Bingham & MJ Weier
Lovettsville, Virginia USA
http://www.cirqueducyclisme.com/