Parramatta Collectors fair organiser caught up in scandal

[UltraMarginal]

This isn't exactly toy news, but it relates to an event the NSW members attend on a regular basis. I'm going to tempre this with a disclaimer.

I tend to find a lot of ACA's material one sided, sensationalised, pointless or otherwise unnewsworthy.


this article has been published by A Current Affair.

The man that is the centre of the circus of this article (Glenn Ware) is the same guy that runs the parramatta collectors fair. it looks to me like he has been using the cover of pretending to donate to these charities as an excuse to rip off the councel and to probably not give any money to any of these charities.


I never realised that there was supposed to be charity donations related to the parra fair, and there are certainly no banners, people advertising this fact at the fair.

If it's all true, it's very dissapointing and concerning also for the future of the fair. I would not be surprised if the councel expected him to pay a lot of money in unpaid fees and disallowed him any further use of the hall.


I feel for all the regular stall holders who attend the fair, it's most likely they are going to miss out on being able to set up stall here in the future.

I'm sad for us, it's been a great opportunity to get together as a group and enjoy our shared interest. I'd like to propose that if the fair does go under, we attend the food court every quarter anyway. If the fair does go ahead and this guy maintains his position as operator/owner I propose not attending the fair itself anyway. I might go line up like normal have our social cold morning catchup and then when the doors open, walk away.

[kup]

There are a few typical ACA 'sensationalist' tactics there for sure. It is possible that several of the people voicing their 'disgust' may actually be expressing opinions out of context.

However if there is indeed material advertising that fair revenue goes to charity and it does not. Then that's pretty clear cut that something dodgy is going on.

[UltraMarginal]

I tend to throw out the fare handouts, does anyone have one on hand they could post up a picture of?

[DELTAprime]

Well if it's true and not a typical ACA load of bull**** that sucks for you guys down south. I always see Parra Fair mentioned in the members sales threads.

[griffin]

I probably have a flyer or two in a box somewhere... but they showed two different ones on the Article, and got some hidden camera footage inside the Fair, so they were researching this for a while.
(did anyone see themselves in the video footage of the Fair?)

I got a bit confused by the end (which is often the tactic for those shows), as it sounds like Glen was the chairman of the Charity, and running the Fair which utilised the Charity he was in charge of, for his personal profit.

From what I could make of the details, the after-expenses money (profit) he was making at the Fair was ALL meant to go to the Charity he was Chairman of.... AND, he was getting about 90% discount on the hiring of the Hall, which adds to his profit margin. (the normal daily rate was $2,700, but he was paying about $270 based on the hourly rate quoted on the Article)

If he has now stood down as Chairman of that Mo Awards Charity, and the Parramatta Council don't giving a discount if he can't prove that past profits went to that Charity, I hope someone else steps up to host a replacement fair. It's one Fair I like to go to every year or two.

Considering his limited costs and revenue ($4 from attendees, and apparently $150 from dealers - which some of our members can actually confirm or correct), it was certainly a big money maker.

[Sinnertwin]

Found 3 flyers in the car

Nov 24th Flyer had the proceeds to the Registered Charity Support Act message
Feb 16th Flyer had the proceeds to the Mo Awards charity message
May 25th Flyer has the message replaced with the upcoming dates for the Fairs in Aug & Nov using larger font

[Trent]

The most disturbing news out of all of this UM is that you watch ACA

Given my opinion of ACA I will wait to see what a real investigation (as is no doubt now happening by Parra Council) finds.

Sucks if it means an end to the fair though

[kup]

From what I could make of the details, the after-expenses money (profit) he was making at the Fair was ALL meant to go to the Charity he was Chairman of.... AND, he was getting about 90% discount on the hiring of the Hall, which adds to his profit margin. (the normal daily rate was $2,700, but he was paying about $270 based on the hourly rate quoted on the Article)

So the fair is only $2700 hire venue from the council for a day? If that's the case I may actually take over and fund it myself.

Why the hell not and how can I get started?

BTW, I am serious

[griffin]

It is certainly profitable, even if you reduce prices on the first couple to get people to take a chance on a new organiser.
Probably best to communicate with Jamie (through Az), and look at getting the contacts of the existing dealers (if they shared each others' details), and go from there.
Advertising should be fairly easy (flyers in comic stores, or internet/facebook) if you are sticking to similar times of year, as the regulars would just expect it, and many might not even know that it is a new organiser.

If you need a business name to hire or purchase things, I or others here can probably help out (depending on the nature of the event, and your Insurance policy for hosting a public event - which is likely to be the other major expense).

[The_Damned]

So the fair is only $2700 hire venue from the council for a day? If that's the case I may actually take over and fund it myself.

Why the hell not and how can I get started?

BTW, I am serious

good luck with that kup.