BuffCon ’05
Sunday April 3, 2005 was the convention for the IPMS Niagara Frontier, (Buffalo, NY region) BuffCon 2005. To begin with we greeted with a spring snowstorm. Up to 30” of heavy wet snow fell overnight and through the morning. Trees and limbs came down, blocking roads and locally knocking out power. Driving was bad, even for Buffalonians, who pride themselves on not being stopped by a little snow (anything less than three feet). As a result attendance was down from the past few years. However, the hard core group made it and the general level of models on display was amazing.
BuffCon traditionally is more than a local show and modelers from the western half of New York, western Pennsylvania, northern Ohio, and Ontario Canada are usually out in force. The Rochester, NY and Cleveland HO clubs always make the show. This year was no exception, though the numbers were smaller.
The convention was held in the Knights of Columbus Hall, which offers plenty of floor space and a separate room for vendors. The location is ideal, right off the Freeway and easy to find. The parking lot is somewhat small.
The admission price was $4, and entries were $5 for the first and $1 for each additional entry and were deducted from the admission price. Because my better half attended with me the entry registration fee equaled the admission for both of us.
The vendor area was in a separate room. I did notice several vendors, and friends were not in attendance this year, but there were new ones. The room was quite crowded and noisy, however, there were some great deals to be had. All raffles were held in the vendor area.
The level of the hard core group that fought through the storm showed in the display area. The level of expertise showed, and was close to the levels seen only at the regionals. Even the models in junior categories seemed exceptionally well done. This resulted in the judges needing extra time to make their evaluations.
All in all the show was another success in a club that thrives on success, and only the storm limited the attendance.