Sportsmen’s Show

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/minnesota-sportsmens-show-ending-st-paul-show-after-52-years/
Really sad to this go.

Times are a changin’.

some resort owners will not come to St. Paul due to fear of crime, adding that people attending also have crime concerns.

That area next to the science museum is a rough area.

I once had someone cut in front of me while I was waiting in line at cossettas.

Interesting reasoning. I’d much rather be in that area than the Minneapolis convention center.

biggill wrote:

some resort owners will not come to St. Paul due to fear of crime, adding that people attending also have crime concerns.

That area next to the science museum is a rough area.

I once had someone cut in front of me while I was waiting in line at cossettas.

Those cossetas lines get intense!

biggill wrote:

some resort owners will not come to St. Paul due to fear of crime, adding that people attending also have crime concerns.

That area next to the science museum is a rough area.

I once had someone cut in front of me while I was waiting in line at cossettas.

But they are cool with Minneapolis convention center area.

Doh k.

We have never had an issue with the area around Kellog and West 7th (MN Science Museum, XCEL, restaurants). I suppose there are a few homeless trying to stay warm … there are a couple of restaurants along W 7th and downtown St Paul that are pretty good … often go there tied to some work function.

The area around the St Paul Farmers market can appear somewhat sketchy on a summer Saturday or Sunday morning, but I have not seen anyone panhandled or heard of an attack.

The area around the Minneapolis Convention Center is really no better. The area around the UofM has steadily declined for personal safety… Not a fan of the area around Twins Target Field in the summer.

Police are often hog tied on confronting loitering groups because they are then “profiling”.

That said, I understand how out state Minnesotans would prefer other venues …

As I wrote in another thread, this is just an excuse as those same vendors happily will come for the Minneapolis boat show or the March Sportsmen show — both at the convention center.

The show was never well attended even before the pandemic and definitely not now. I attended back when I was boat shopping as it was another chance to check out all of the boats before the boat show and get your order in a week early. I didn’t end up buying, but that was my plan.

But boat shopping in general — especially for fishing boats is different now. It used to be that people would go to these Jan boat shows to get their orders in and be guaranteed the boat would be here before opener. And the boat shows often gave you the best price. Well, all that is not the case anymore. People are buying in November, December, or basically whenever their dealer calls them about an open slot.

These boat shows now are more for the pleasure boat owners who are looking to buy or upgrade. Most fishing boat guys are already working with their dealers.

My dad and I used to go to the boat show and NW sports show mainly just as something to do during the winter. I did go once to upgrade a boat, but that was the only thing I ever bought at either show. They just got to be the same thing over and over, and we just lost interest. Not to mention entry, parking and something to drink was a pretty good chunk of change.

biggill wrote:

some resort owners will not come to St. Paul due to fear of crime, adding that people attending also have crime concerns.

That area next to the science museum is a rough area.

I once had someone cut in front of me while I was waiting in line at cossettas.

My wife works near Cedar and Kellog and I used to park at her ramp and walk over to the shows. 100% will not do that anymore. People don’t knew half the $hit that goes down around there around that area. No it’s not safe.

blackbay wrote:

Not to mention entry, parking and something to drink was a pretty good chunk of change.

Haha. That’s what most of these shows are all about. Grabbing a brewsky and walking around for a couple hours.

biggill wrote:

some resort owners will not come to St. Paul due to fear of crime, adding that people attending also have crime concerns.

That area next to the science museum is a rough area.

I once had someone cut in front of me while I was waiting in line at cossettas.

Last time I was down in that area (June 2021), we ate at Parlour just down 7th from Cossetta’s, which was across from a halfway house or something, and saw a guy shooting up and then a lady peeing in the parking lot. Big city life amirite!?! I think they moved that halfway house, but not really the ambiance I was looking for while enjoying a delicious burger…

Yes that halfway house is gone. Every restaraunt on west 7th had a lawsuit against the city about that place.

BigWerm wrote:

saw a guy shooting up and then a lady peeing in the parking lot.

I work DT St Paul, essential on site employee through Covid. Down here every day. Nothing has changed…..

Still a lot of open air drug use, public urination and other quality of life issues such as loud cussing, smoking in the skyways, and non-stop pan handling by the homeless. All ignored by law enforcement.

-J.

It is still a homeless paradise. It can be a nice area, but I have some horror stories from all the work we do down there. You get to see some nasty stuff and methed up people. But honestly that is every where. The Porta potty on the job I’m on today was full of needles and herion foils because some one forgot to pad lock it over the weekend.

Just another comment on the pan handling going on down here. (It’s bad!) If you do decide to come downtown for dinner or a show/game. When you do get pan handled, just say “I don’t carry cash” and keep on walking. Don’t ever pull out a wallet or open a purse. That is when you will get your wallet/purse snatched.

All of the homeless know where to get free food at least 2 times a day. Any or all cash they get from pan handling is used to buy booze and drugs. You are not helping anything by giving out cash. No matter how bad the situation looks. (Even women with young kids.)

The line “I don’t carry cash” works every time. So far I have not run into any homeless person taking credit cards.

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

Any or all cash they get from pan handling is used to buy booze and drugs.

Nobody buys booze and drugs with my money but me!

I can say I have heard gunshots more than a few times while fishing near downtown after dark.

I grew up in Minneapolis and I have attended and for some years worked both mpls and st.paul sport and boat shows. Both shows are smaller than 30 years ago and both city’s have gone downhill. I try my hardest to not go to either city anymore and spend my $ there for any reason other than family.i will not pay to park then pay to enter then pay the same price as in the store only so the bigger retailers can have multiple booths/areas only to push the little/new business into some obscure corner that nobody knows about. The sport shows absolutely suck now! I went to see the new stuff, not the same crap I see in every store.

Brittman wrote:

The area around the St Paul Farmers market can appear somewhat sketchy on a summer Saturday or Sunday morning, but I have not seen anyone panhandled or heard of an attack

Yeah, some lady in a Range Rover stole the parking place my wife was waiting for near the farmer’s market. She was probably a cocaine kingpin, all those luxury lofts in that area attract a really bad crowd.

The Sportsman’s Show had become a flea market of junk peddlers. Few will miss it.

i read this article about 30 minutes ago and then saw this thread. Before even opening this thread i knew that the topic of discussion would center around crime in the cities. IDO did not disappoint lol.

Never went to one of these shows and cant say i would but i suppose if i was in the market for a new RV or boat it would be nice opportunity to get a good look at them.

The article i read goes on to explain 3 factors. It appears the one above focuses more on the crime portion.

“Cenaiko said shows in St. Cloud, Fargo and Sioux Falls will continue as planned, but the St. Paul event ran aground due to three major factors.

Boat and dock companies have struggled to present new inventory, he said, due to international supply chain slowdowns.

Minnesota’s resorts and lodges have enjoyed banner sales, inspired in part by closures at the Canadian border that ran through August 2021 and, more recently, a general societal interest in reconnecting with the outdoors after nearly three years of pandemic-driven virtual meetings and event cancellations.

Then there’s the growing hesitancy from suburban vendors to drive into downtown St. Paul or downtown Minneapolis following a national uptick in urban crime. There’s some evidence those crime numbers may be softening, but that hasn’t been enough to quell concerns.

“There wasn’t enough inventory for a lot of the marine dealers to do multiple shows, and a lot of the resorts and lodges did not want to come down to the Twin Cities, either St. Paul or Minneapolis,” Cenaiko said.

“We would have had about half the boat display as normal, and the same with the resorts and lodges,” he added. “We usually have hundreds (of resort vendors) and that wasn’t going to happen. … They either felt they didn’t need to because things have been going well, or they didn’t want to come down to the Twin Cities.”

I was kind of surprised at them pulling out of St Paul. I’ve lived near there pretty much my whole life. Yes it’s gone through a lot of changes, but nothing out of the ordinary. All the riots happened in Minneapolis. That place is always full for Wild games… It must be due to not enough vendors and that was an out(crime)