Like most contests I've been to, our local contest has always had a theme. In the past we have used anniversaries of events, countries, colors, and we even had a Halloween/monster theme. The best themes seem to transcend the majority of model genres and bring out the most participants with well thought out or unusual subjects. Themes that are too specific leave out a lot of modelers. For instance, military/war themes often leave out automobile and other civilian categories and vice versa. On the other hand, generic themes such as "the Fifties" seem too broad to really bring out interesting subjects. People seem to just pull out a couple of long built kits which just happen to fit the category. I would like to find a few good themes which cross all categories, or at least give a builder a fair shot at the theme regardless of his or her modeling interests.
Our next show is set for November '09 and we are in the process of finalizing its details. My request of this group is to solicit unusual or interesting, if not new, themes for our show other than the same old topics we all run into each year. Fun, serious, odd, doesn't matter (we do run a family friendly show, so we do want to keep it clean), just one that will peak the building interests of a broad range of modelers and encourage participation in the show.
I know if this group can't do it, fat chance our little club could...
Thanks.