End of an era in Saratoga
Last gun show at the City Center wraps it up
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.>> The 107th and final New Eastcoast Arms Collectors Associates Arms Fair at the Saratoga Springs City Center finished up on Sunday after a 34-year relationship between the organizations came to a close.
The sign in front of the City Center on Broadway read “Welcome NEACA Arms Fair,” over the weekend, but after Sunday this statement would no longer be true.
In March, following a school shooting in Florida, the City Council voted unanimously to prohibit the sale of modern firearms and ammunition at the City Center.
The City Center and NEACA, however, had a contract in place for a Memorial Day Weekend arms fair.
This event went on as planned with no restrictions, but it will be the last one, officials said.
“This is the end of an era,” said organizer David Petronis, who was sitting at his vendor booth on Sunday at the show.
Throughout the weekend Petronis had many event-goers stop by his station to say thank you and tell him how much they’ve enjoyed the shows over the past few decades, he said.
Furthermore, some said they will not visit Saratoga Springs, or spend money there, until the NEACA gun show comes back. Petronis said, “Well, I probably won’t be up here either because I have no reason.”
Petronis said he’s had similar issues with other places where he holds events. In a letter to NEACA members, he wrote, “Today our culture, heritage and yes, gun shows are under attack like never before.”
Though the NEACA will still continue hosting arms fair events in other locations, the Spa City show was convenient not only for Petronis, of Mechanicville, but many of the vendors and attendees as well, he said. “It’s very convenient for a lot of people to come here.”
Petronis starting holding arms fairs at the City Center in 1984, shortly after the NEACA’s inception.
The NEACA was the first group to hold a trade show at the City Center, which opened the same year, Petronis said.
Petronis recalls driving on Broadway in Saratoga Springs in the early 1980s and coming to a screeching halt when he saw a sign announcing the future Saratoga Springs City Center, as he knew it could be a good venue for his arms fair.
For many years Petronis worked with the City Center’s former executive director Mark Baker, who retired at the end of 2016 before unsuccessfully running for mayor, losing to current Mayor Meg Kelly.
“If he won the mayorship we probably would still be doing the show,” Petronis said.
The more than 100 arms fairs, held on a regular basis over the years, would typically draw about 2,000 to 3,000 event-goers, Petronis said.
Petronis noted that the NEACAmaintained their relationship with the City Center through two construction phases.
Now, the NEACA is planning to find a new venue in the area. “We’ll have something here,” Petronis said, though a new venue has not yet been decided upon.
“I hope he finds a new place,” said vendor Chester Smith of Altamont, who’s been selling at the Saratoga Springs shows since the started in 1984.
The NEACA has upcoming events scheduled in the coming months for Old Forge, Fishkill, Waddington, Watertown and Rutland, Vt..
On a f lyer from the NEACA, it said “Next Saratoga, NY Show: To Be Deter-
mined.”
“I’m very sad to see it go,” said Saratoga Springs resident Marc Roggen, while attending the event on Sunday. “I really enjoy the show.” Roggen has been coming to the arms fairs for about 25 years, and said he will follow it wherever it goes next.
“It’s a very said thing to see this end like this,” echoed Dan Zennaiter, who
has been coming to the local gun show since he was first old enough to hunt. Zennaiter recalls attending the show with his dad and buying his first 12-gauge shotgun.
Vendor Carey Halkiotis of Vermont is disgusted with the decision that’s been made to stop the arms fair tradition, he said. “I think it’s tragic.”