Crowds Make Mad Rush For QZ
It appears the RV pundits have been proved wrong, again.
The rumor had it that Quartzsite wouldn't see the big crowds this year. And for a while it looked as though they might be right--even after Christmas the numbers of folks rolling through town just wasn't up to the usual standard. But look out! When the first of the shows in the big tent opened, they were here.
Traffic in beautiful downtown Quartzsite is back to its usual "slow and go" status. Want to cross over I-10 via the Highway 95 bridge? If you're going south, add about 15 minutes to your normal drive time. Got a mailing to send out of the post office? Be sure to take a copy of War and Peace ti keep you company. Gonna meet somebody for lunch at Burger King? Take the freeway rather than the B-10.Vendors are hoping you'll bring your money. And they hope you'll stay awhile. Yep, it's high season in Quartzsite.
posted by Russ and Tiña De Maris at
6:17 AM
5 Comments:
Alas, although the crowds are still there, the Main Event is no longer. Yes, there's still the Main Event sign. But that's about all that's left of the old Main Event. So many commercial businesses have place permanent residence on the old Main Event grounds that there just isn't room for seasonal vendors anymore. My guess is that there is much less than 1/4 the normal amount of vendors as usual. Suggestion: Skip the Main Event permanently and visit the place that loves it's vendors: Tyson Wells.
By
Phil Wilson, at January 22, 2008 7:02 PM
Okay, I was in Quartzsite and Tyson Wells is just as bad as the Main Event. It's almost totally commercial vendors now with very few of the independent craftspeople and small business vendors left. Also, there were way, way fewer people than any other year we've been there (which is every one since 1992). I asked some vendors how business was this year, and all of them said "slow." So no matter how optimistic we want to be as RVers, the price of gas combined with the cold weather has kept the crowds away.
By
Anonymous, at January 26, 2008 2:08 PM
Not sure what the author means by the term "crowds". We were here the first time 2 years ago and this is only our 2nd. visit, so we are far from experts on the crowds at Q. We arrived on the Tues. after the first weekend of the RV show. Here at LaPosa north, there was nowheres near the rigs that there was 2 years ago. The same across the street at LaPosa west. After several trips through town it was very evident that the number of venders had also dropped. Yes, there were a lot of people going through the tent, but I attribute that to the fact that there were so fewer outside venders that it pushed more people into the tent. The last weekend of the RV show, rigs were vacating Q like there was an approaching hurricane bearing down on the desert! This past Tuesday and Wed. the venders across the street from the big tent was reduced by at least 60 if not 70%. Say what you will, the numbers are way down this year. I have purposely talked with friends that are long time veterans of Q as well as a number of venders trying to hang in there all confirm my untrained observation. Of course the weather doesn't seem to be as warm as we remembered it to be 2 years ago either, so that may be part of it!
By
RovinRon, at February 2, 2008 8:28 PM
I was in QZ two times this year, and the first time (during the RV show) was really slow. Went back yesterday, with an old car show going on in the tent, and it was pretty busy. I firmly believe the crowds were smaller this year because 1. less interest in buying an RV with the high cost of fuel, and 2. the tent show was much earlier this year, meaning it the weather was colder and nastier than we're used to seeing. I can remember when everything happened the first weekend in Feb. and crowds were huge. They weren't huge yesterday, but almost as large as past years.
By
Anonymous, at February 3, 2008 11:18 AM
Sorry to hear about the Main Event. But the big tent was full during the RV show as well as it was across the street at Tyson Wells.Crowds may be down some but it sure didn't look like much.
By
AZ Chas, at February 4, 2008 1:57 PM
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