I went yesterday and I must say that although I had a good time ( hour and half drive for me), it was somewhat disappointing. Food "court" was a joke ( not that I planned on anything really good), turnout seemed rather spotty, and although there were quite a few vendors it seems the majority was geared towards AP. ( probably the way this hobby is trending) I was surprised that most vendors weren't actually selling product, but rather prompted you to QR code and buy online. I wish I had been able to take in some seminars but I was slightly time constrained as there was a family dinner early evening. I found out too late about the outdoor solar viewing but the line was pretty slow moving and I probably could not have participated. Like many were saying the recent eclipse may have dampened some attendance and let's face it our economy right now makes discretionary spending a little difficult for most. I will most likely attend next year if they still have it.
Gene
Long-time attendee here. The North American eclipse two weeks ago most definitely had a "dampening effect" on participation at NEAIC/NEAF this year. I didn't observe the attendee aisles in the field house being busy at any time on the Saturday.
And it's definitely not for lack of vendors or vendor participation. Meade hasn't shown up the last couple years - not only have they gone through relative upheaval, but they just don't have anything significantly new these days to offer.
The show is definitely geared more toward astrophotography this year. Both DSO and planetary. ZWO, QHY, Player One were all present from a planetary perspective. Smart scopes are the current darlings of several companies (notably Unistellar, Celestron and ZWO). I suspect a lot of vendors realized attendance might be down (which makes it all the more puzzling the Crowne Plaza claimed to be full) and decided to cancel between the eclipse and now.
Having said that, there were several really good presentations (both at the preceding NEAIC and NEAF itself) - the quality just gets better and better.
I'm not the gatekeeper, but judging by Saturday alone, I'd say the attendance was no more than half that of a pre-COVID Saturday. And let me make it clear - this is no way the fault of Rockland Astronomy Society or anyone else associated with the logistics (vendors, manufacturers, etc.) of such a large-scale show. It's still the #1 in the world, attended by nearly every major manufacturer.
If the show continues next year, I'll be back. And I didn't even buy anything this weekend!
This image was from around 1:30pm on Saturday: