Charging to shop at a vendors area is way over board. Since all the vendors pay top dollar to be there and everyone of those either offer discounts or something that they are selling., as a door prize. Just another money hungry organization I see.
I have been to one and will NEVER spend another dime getting in to see the vendors. Wing-Ding just didn't do it for me. I don't like dressing like a clown or look alike with pins that hang down to my knees.
I'm not sure that opinion will be a popular one, but I agree with you, to a point.
I don't have a problem with paying a token fee to get into a venue that is hosting an event. They have costs too. But more often than not with motorcycle rallies nowadays, the fees have become unreasonable.
But like many other things, they charge what the market will bear. As long as the venues are getting packed, and the vendors keep paying their equally outrageous fees, the prices will continue to rise.
Criss and I went to a couple of them and paid the overpriced fees, but once the novelty wore off, we were done. I enjoy going through the vendor expos at rallies, and would do it more often. But the thought of throwing away $22 per person, or even $15, just for the right to visit vendors, doesn't sit right with us.