Some people are intimidated by competing. What if you had an additional area where people could display quilts without that area being competitive? What about for every quilt displayed or entered in a competition, you get a ticket for a drawing for something quilt related and cool?
Also, what about having some different types of competitions for items like table runners, christmas tree skirts, quilt tops made entirely of clothing, t-shirt quilt tops, bed runners, fabric folding, post cards made of quilting (not to be confused with the postcard quilt pattern), ugly fabric quilt etc. Advertise and alert people well ahead of time about the judging section.
Brief demos with samples for each step along the way would draw me in also. I would love to see demos of how to do fabric folding, using your DSM to embroider letters using zigzag stitch, making postcards, different ways to mark a quilt for FMQing.
I hope my input was helpful. Good luck!