Putting on a show

The Sugar Land Lions Club in Sugar Land Texas is interested in talking to anyone that can give some insight into starting an annual tractor show, to include vendor booths and possible pulling and demenstrations. We would act as the sponser and provide the grounds & prizes for the show. My questions are this.
1. Is there a website dedicated to show listings in addition to this site.
2. Is there a listing for clubs in the areas in and around the Houston metro-plex
3. To those who are currently heading up this type of event I would welcome your comments and suggestions. Basic start-up rules and tools
Thank you all in advance and looking forward to hearing from you.
Tony
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Here is one from down around Fredericksburg. They put on a lot of shows around the state. I have not been to one of theirs as of yet, but I plan to make the 2009 Fredericksburg show. It will be the National Early Day Gas Engine & Tractor Association Show.
HILL COUNTRY ANTIQUE TRACTOR & ENGINE CLUB

I will offer some of my comments from my experiences in show managment. I was on the board of my local show for 6 years. BTW "fixerupper" is on that same board currently. Maybe he will weigh in on this thread.

If you are providing the ground you will need insurance. I would talk to a Lawyer but you may want to set up a LLC to insulate youselves from liability.

Now down to some of the nitty gritty. I would suggest setting up some safety rules from the get go. Things like what is a allowable seat to ride on equipment, What you will allow for riders, I would suggest no one infront of a set of wheels other than the driver or in a secure seat. Either state that all drivers be able to adequatly control their vehicles or set a age limit. No pull starting during the show? Others might come to your mind. If you are starting out from scratch and set these up at the begining enforce them with a firm but kind hand (some people will require more firm than kind). Doing this from the start will make things easier down the road if the show grows. trust me BTDT

You will find that people will start donating equipment to your cause. DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER this can become a real problem down the road. The donors will give you grandpas old fanning mill and expect you to give it tender loving care forever even though you have absoulutly no use for the dang thing. The local show that I refer to has a line of equipment that sits in the weeds or gets moved in and out of sheds that no one looks at and is a pain and labor sucking job. We move the equipment twice to mow where it sits and that usually takes about 6 guys a couple of hours. Their are a couple of rare pieces in this line but they are slowly rusting away to nothing. It would be best to tell donors to sell the equipment or give it to a individual that will care for it as they would like. Trust me as a rule if you can't use the equipment don't accept the donation, all parties will be happier in the long run. I would also mention that you make it clear that if you take the donation that the show can do with the equipment as they please. This includes selling it to a individual.

There are other things that I could add but will cut this off for now. I hope Fixerupper will weigh in here.

jt

Being as you are a Lion's club, you might want to call someone at the Chapin Ill. lions club, to get, an idea of how they do things. They have a tractor ride and feed, every year. they surely know how to get permits, manage croud control, and keep interest in the event, from year to year. Just a thought.