The Shipshewana Card Fest
Shipshewana, Indiana; it’s a real place, and it hosts one of the best sports card shows in the Midwest: The Shipshewana Card Fest. Dodging horses and buggies, on a farm road, from nearly an hour out of the destination, presents its own unique challenges. Traveling to Amish country is all part of the show experience when it comes to the Shipshewana Card Fest. When attending this show, I was genuinely surprised at how strong both the community and card base were represented. “How could this show thrive in the middle of nowhere?” So this led to a mission to find out the story of this show; from the beginning.
The Origin of the Shipshewana Card Fest
The Shipshewana Card Fest all started with an idea from Brad Beeman. Known as BeeSports on socials, Beeman was setting up as a dealer at his local Fort Wayne card show, and after some success, he started branching out to more shows. It was at an abandoned Dollar General where everything clicked into place. “I was at a show in Elkhart, Indiana. It was in an abandoned Dollar General. There were no bathrooms, there was no AC, and just like any guy or lady in the hobby I was like, you know, I think I could do it. Maybe not better than that, but like, if you get that many people in a room like that.” And so the dream of running a card show of his own was born, “My end goal was, if I could pay for the room and sell some things and make a little money on the show and make a little money at my table, that'd be like a glorious thing.”
Labor Day 2020, the Shipshewana Card Fest was born, and it started with 44 tables, in a 8,000 square ft ballroom space. From there, it shifted to the venue that put the show on the map; a 20,000 square ft expo barn. In the expo barn, the show transformed into 200 tables. The 200 table show lasted for a while, and overtime it was outgrown, but it was those early shows where the heart of the show was created.
The Heart of the Shipshewana Card Fest
Many of the personalities that make up the Shipshewana Card Fest that people attend today, made their first treks to Shipshewana in the early goings. Ryan Johnson, better known as CardCollector2, now a partner of the show, attended the second ever Shipshewana Card Fest. Johnson shared, “I think the only real difference is just time, right? I mean, it's a lot of the same people that were in that building that were doing good things and are good people. The only difference is we've slowly grown into more space, added fresh faces, but the show at its heart, was built on some of those early shows. Those same values and those same people are still here at this show today.”
One of the dealers that Johnson mentioned when speaking about the heart of the show was Michael Breon, aka MikeyBCards. Breon was initially intrigued about what Shipshewana had to offer, after some friends mentioned it. “I had some friends set up and they said, “you've got to come to this show.” And I was like, well, “what makes it so special compared to anything else?” They were like, well, it's in Shipshewana, Indiana. And my first question was, “well, where is that?” So I looked it up. It's in the middle of nowhere, and I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna give it a shot just because I think it could be interesting.”
Since the first show he set up at, Breon has become one of the most recognizable faces of the show, with his inventory only being available at the Shipshewana shows, as he doesn’t set up at others. But what would continue to bring Breon back to Shipshewana and setting up? “I think what people love about this show is that it's just so much easier to deal here. It's a great place to buy. It's a great place to sell. The dealers are extremely friendly. Most of them priced very competitively, and that's not to downplay that at other shows, it's just there's something about Shipshewana. It's really Midwest friendly. It's very family appropriate. They do so many great programs for kids. And then to see it grow from like I think the first show I did was like 120 tables to this one, which is like 450 plus and a significantly larger venue. It's just been so great to watch it get bigger and better every year.”
The “family friendly atmosphere” was echoed through everyone in the show, with each individual feeling welcomed from the moment they walked in the doors. Oftentimes, when parents bring their kids to card shows, it can be tasking, especially if their kid isn’t a collector, and generally, there aren't activities that engage the younger audience, with dealers sometimes shying away from answering questions the young collectors have. Another regular this show from Day 1, Courtney Recklein, from Reckless Cards, saw this standard accepted at other shows, but wanted to take it into her own hands to create something special at the Shipshewana Card Fest, “Here there’s so many people that bring their kids who are both vendors and visiting the show. I'm like, we should do something that really, you know, makes it more fun for the kids, because I see my kids sometimes even if they really like it, they're sitting there and they're bored out of their mind. So I was like, what can we do that would, you know, keep the kids busy.”
Recklein then crafted an idea that would do just that; a kids scavenger hunt! An event where kids will hit the show floor of over 300 tables, to find the participating 15 dealers, get their cards stamped, and rush back to the scavenger hunt table to get their prize. The prizes awarded are all great, some fan favorites including, “Zion cases are always a hit. Kids love the free grading from TNT, slab chains, graded cards. We’ve also given away free breaks live from the show floor, hobby boxes, autographed items. But the prizes change each event.”
There is thought put into the prizes to make this an enjoyable experience and the whole community comes together to make it happen. Recklein shared, “I have people that they're not stops on the scavenger hunt, they're not sponsors, they just come over and bring me things. They're like, “give these to the kids, give these to the kids.” I have people from out of state that will mail stuff into me and be like, “I don't want any credit, just give these to the kids. It's gotten to the point now where I have to make extra new tickets because I have to write on the back “this prize” because I never know what I'm gonna get donated the day off.”
The Next Shipshewana Card Fest
The next Shipshewana Card Fest is taking place this weekend, August 15-16, at the Michiana Event Center. Being just days away from hundreds of collectors flocking into Shipshewana, Johnson spoke to the atmosphere of the room, “I would say if you're looking to see how active and healthy, and just how passionate, the industry is right now. People drive hours. We had somebody drive from 14 hours away from Texas, to be here. People fly in. People come from Canada, the west coast. If you're looking to get an idea of what the hobby is really like right now, Shipshewana, Indiana is the place to be.”
If you are still on the fence about this show, but are open to making the trip, a sentiment shared from Beeman is the perfect synopsis to all the voices and spirit of the show. “When you come to ship Shipshewana, Indiana, you're coming for no other reason than to experience the hobby with other people that love cards. So I think if you're thinking about making the trip, you should, because it's just a very wholesome genuine place to collect cards and interact with other traders or collectors.”
