bay area coral farmers' market?

[jhuynh]

has anyone been to coral farmers' market in fremont area? they are having another one this year on may 3rd.

2009 Bay Area Coral Farmers Market SM
Fourth Annual Spring Event

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

10:30 AM to 4 PM

Hilton Newark/Fremont Hotel
39900 Balentine Dr.
Newark, California 94560

i havent been to one so i might be going. would like some feed back from people who has gone in the past.

thanks in advance,
jonathan

 

[bljohnson]

I went to the one in So-Cal a few years ago. There was alot of eye candy there but the setup/execution was poor IMO. They setup the frag tanks the morning of the event (doors opened like 1 hour late) and the vendors used donated water from a local vendor that ended up being cold freshly mixed salt water. The corals looked like crap and all slimed up for the first part of the day.

It is a great way to put some faces to the names you see and support captive propagation. If your not after those "ultra rare" LEs you can pick up some of last months FOTM frags/colonies at decent prices.

Some of the vendors took cash only and the ATM in the hotel lobby was used up quick so I would plan ahead. I would also bring a small cooler + heating pads. The vendors used really small plastic containers to "bag" everything up so I would bring like a 1 liter bag of SW from home to compensate for accidental spills and to also add mass/temperature buffering so the heat packs don't cook everything.

 

[brianbigoats]

I have been to all three you can pick up some nice corals and there are deals to be had
they have always been great events very well executed most vendors take credit cards/Paypal
Bljohnson sound like you went to the first event they have they have worked things out since then
I will be going again already got my ticket

 

[Jacob D]

I have heard mixed reviews recently but nothing really bad. It's mostly for the "collector" crowd, I think the general reefing population isn't as tuned into it.

I stopped collecting exotics years ago, so I have no real reason to go.