I can understand being disappointed in a quilt show - I stopped going to the festival in Houston for four years because it got to be the same thing, year in and year out, including seeing the same quilts for years on end! The vendors all carried the same thing, and frankly, it got to a point where it seemed like there were more "fringe" vendors (i.e., jewelry, beads, etc) than anything I would find helpful in my quilting.
This year, I went back for the first time since 2007, and honestly, I was a bit disappointed. We looked at the quilts, and some of them were stunning, but there seemed to be fewer big quilts and more wall hangings, miniatures, and such. The vendors were giving show specials, and I enjoyed checking out some of them, but by and large, it was the same stuff I could get at one of my LQS.
I do go to the shows to see the quilts, but at the same time, I go to check out anything new that might have hit the market. I am a gadget type of girl, so I love to see what someone has come up with in the way of innovative products, and I'm always disappointed when I find every booth selling the same thing as the previous 200 booths. I would actually think that the ones that have something different would do better business than the ones that are all selling the same thing.
Some quilt shows, it's like walking through Stepford Booths ...