Arlington report

I created a minor firestorm last year by posting some negative comments
about Arlington. It is apparently not a good thing to criticize a volunteer
run event. But anyone that knows me knows that my comments are intended as
constructive criticism. This year, I'm going to send my criticisms in a
private email to the Arlington folks.



As normal, Arlington is a wonderful experience. For 50 weeks a year,
Disneyland may be the happiest place on Earth, but for two weeks of the
year, Arlington and Oshkosh have that distinction. The weather was pretty
much perfect this year, there was some rain and wind on Friday (but not as
much as past years), and there was record/near record heat all week long. I
was only there on Saturday, but attendance seemed to me to be down. I'm
going to be curious to see the official data. There appears to be a gradual
decline in both exhibitors and forum speakers. I have a real problem with
this. Exhibitors and speakers should be using Arlington as a trial
rehearsal for Oshkosh. And for Heaven's sake exhibitors, have someone there
who doesn't look like they were Baptized in lemon juice and has some
enthusiasm for the product!!! Some effort needs to be put into beefing up
these parts of the show. I used to have to go back to the car at least two
times with bags of literature and catalogs; this year, I only got half a
bag. The airshow itself was down from past years, due to the continued
fallout over the lawsuit over the accident a few years ago. Hopefully this
will be reversed on appeal.



A new highlight for me was the "Jazz concert". I've avoided it in the past
because at best, jazz bores me. Well, the band played mostly Count Basie,
Stan Kenton, and Maynard Fergusson, none of which I consider "jazz", and the
band was GREAT. I made a couple of suggestions for new year's playlist, and
I'm not going to miss the concert in the future. They are "Meydenbauer's
Ourrageous Jazz Orchestra" and their website is www.mojobigband.com. Very
recommended.



The food was great, the fireworks airshow was great, and the runway movie
was great. But Arlington isn't on the verge of becoming "Big Time", it is
already 'Big Time" and I don't think the people involved in it or the
community at large recognize that.