Possibly…
Car event is leaving Harrisburg
Friday, October 22, 2004
BY DAN MILLER
Of Our Carlisle Bureau
CARLISLE - Say goodbye to the Carlisle Custom Compact show.
The show will not return to the Farm Show Complex in 2005, John Detrick, CEO of show promoters Carlisle Events, said yesterday.
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He said no decision has been made on where the show will take place. In fact, Detrick could not guarantee that the show will be held at all next year.
“We’ve decided where it’s not going to be, that’s all,” Detrick said. “We have a new business model and a new business locality in mind, but it’s not going to be here, including the Harrisburg and Carlisle market.”
He said it is “very, very possible” the show will be held elsewhere in Pennsylvania. Detrick expects the matter to be settled in a few weeks.
Custom Compact draws a mostly young audience and is one of the fastest growing shows held each year by Carlisle Events.
But Custom Compact is also considered the most rowdy of the Carlisle Events shows. Until last year, the show was held at the Carlisle Fairgrounds. Complaints from residents and arrests made by police in surrounding municipalities prompted Carlisle Events to move Custom Compact to the Farm Show Complex this year.
Custom Compact drew 23,000 participants to the Farm Show in May. Nevertheless, Detrick said the event “lost half the audience” from previous years.
Detrick said the indoor environment of the Farm Show Complex might have had something to do with that.
“We believe that the kids really love the outdoor concept,” he said.
Officials in Susquehanna Twp. and Harrisburg initially said they didn’t want the show to return in 2005, citing the same complaints that prompted Custom Compact’s move from the fairgrounds.
Farm Show officials, however, reported no problems during the show. Detrick yesterday reported holding amicable meetings to work out show issues with the township and city officials.
“We were, in fact, welcomed to return” to the Farm Show Complex, Detrick said. “We’re just choosing not to.”
Ed Nielsen, director of the Farm Show Complex, said yesterday that Detrick told him the decision not to return was part of an overall change.
“He told me they have completely reconfigured their business model and that they’re looking to be somewhere in Pennsylvania, but not central Pennsylvania,” Nielsen said.
Detrick said the show is plagued by a small minority of participants who, after leaving the venue for the day, cause problems in the surrounding areas. Many of the loyal Custom Compact participants are at least as upset over the situation as the officials are, he added.
Jack Sherzer contributed to this article. DAN MILLER: 249-2006 or danmiller@patriot-news.com
