Finnish Fly Fair 2014
I quickly stopped by at the Perhomessut aka Finnish Fly Fair on Saturday. Only had couple hours to spare and it went fast talking with old and new friends. It was a pleasure to finally meet Barry Ord Clarke from Norway as I have enjoyed his photography and tying for many years. You can find Barry at his website The Featherbender.
The fair was as it has been for the last couple decades. It’s nice small show but could be improved and taken to the same level as most of the international shows easily. There are mostly no manufacturers as exhibitors and the show relies only on shops that go there to get rid of last years gear and sell some of the new ones at a similar discount. It would be great if it concentrated more on displaying and presenting new gear rather than trying to get rid of as much stuff as they can.
I may be biased to say this as I usually don’t have anything to buy from there but I think it would benefit the sport in the long run. A fair like this shouldn’t be about buying and selling, it should be about showing people something new and inspiring and then letting them make their purchases at the show or afterwards.
There has been some great casters and tyers each year but usually only couple international guests which isn’t enough for a show this big. You only have to go to Sweden or Denmark to see what could be easily done here too but there hasn’t been much improvement here.
