Rumors of Demise Greatly Exaggerated
WAUKEE SWAP MEET, SUMMER SHOW STILL GOING STRONG; DATES SET FOR '99 EVENTS
The swap meet and summer show at Waukee, Iowa remain very much in business, despite rumors to the contrary.
"We're still alive and well," says Mike Bowlin, vice president of the Central Hawkeye Gas Engine and Tractor Association, sponsor of the two annual events.
The Central Hawkeye group operates its show and swap meet from a 50-acre site owned by Hawkeye Antique Acres. The group also leases an additional 50 acres adjacent to the showgrounds. When the leased land was sold this fall, the rumor mill churned out reports that the Waukee events had ended.
"We only used 13 acres of the leased ground, and we just used that as wheat ground that we'd plow during our show," he says. "The rest of it, we subleased."
The swap meet (set for May 26-29, 1999) has never been held on the leased land, and the summer show (July 16-18) only uses the leased land for the wheat ground. The Central Hawkeye group is negotiating with the new owners of the land to continue use of the wheat ground, Mike says. "We don't expect to lose anything," he says. The Central Hawkeye swap meet, long billed as "the largest antique ag-heritage swap meet in North America," attracted 500-600 vendors last May, with gate attendance of nearly 5,000. The event, which utilizes nearly every inch of the original 50-acre showgrounds, has been held for 26 years.
The summer show, which will mark its 24th anniversary in July, occupies about one-half to three-quarters of the original showgrounds.