On February 22, 2009 the Great Lakes Appaloosa Horse Club had another successful swap meet in Findlay, Ohio at the University of Findlay’s western farm.

We tried several new things this year. We went back to mailing out a letter to all of the 2008 vendors inviting them back again this year. It gave everyone the opportunity to reserve their previous spot by a February 1 deadline, listed the host hotel, gave directions to the farm and went over the differences between commercial and non commercial booths.

We also implemented another two other new ideas. In the past everyone just checked in and found out where to set up when they got there but this year we sent out confirmation letters telling each vendor where their booth was located and maps of all vendor areas. Something else we tried this year was the use of wristbands. Each non commercial booth got one free admission and the commercial booths each received two free admissions. Those wristbands plus any additional wristbands they chose to buy ahead of time were included in the confirmation letters. Both experiments worked great and will be used again in the future.

The University has added a new entrance to the farm off of St. Rt. 68. Not only is it a beautiful drive into the facility but it added a lot of additional parking that the swap meet needed.

Set up started at noon on Saturday. A group of volunteers from the club, plus family and friends came to help. We measured and marked out the booths and labeled them. All the vendors who sell out of their trailer brought them in and got parked. Several of the vendors that pull in to unload also came at that time and Sunday morning the balance of the vendors got set up. The shoppers started pouring in early.

This year we sold 77 commercial and 138 non commercial spots for a total of 215 vendor spots. The vendors offered the shoppers a well rounded assortment of new and used merchandise in just about everything one could imagine for a horse or rider. A large portion of both groups were returning from 2008.

We collected from about 2500 people at the gate plus sent out 460 wristbands for a total of 2960 participants.

The Findlay Swap Meet is definitely the place to shop for all you horse and horse show needs. Plans for the 2010 Swap Meet are already underway. Reservations will be accepted for the 2010 Swap Meet starting December, 2009. We sold out of every spot available this year and had well over a dozen people on the waiting list hoping to get a spot. Reserve early and don’t be one of those people in 2010.

Judy Leister