The October edition of the Rare Bear E Sports Collectibles Card Show returns to the Quality Inn & Suites at 5316 US Highway 19 North, New Port Richey, FL 34652 for a two-day weekend running Saturday, October 17 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and Sunday, October 18 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Admission is $2 and the floor runs to roughly 100 tables.
Mid-October is a distinctly good time to work a card show floor. Baseball's postseason is in full swing, the NFL is deep enough into the season that rookie classes have sorted themselves out, and both the NBA and NHL have just started. That confluence puts a lot of cards into motion. Football rookies who looked ordinary in August have either broken out or faded, and both directions create opportunities — the breakouts are expensive but liquid, and the fallers are where patient collectors make money. Baseball postseason performers get repriced on the spot. If you enjoy watching a market react, this is a lively weekend to be on a show floor.
Rare Bear E remains the anchor event for west Pasco County. For collectors in New Port Richey, Port Richey, Hudson, Trinity, Holiday, and up toward Aripeka and Hernando County, it eliminates a long haul down US 19 or the Suncoast Parkway to reach the Pinellas and Hillsborough circuit. The room has a regular crowd and a genuinely friendly, unhurried character that larger convention-hall events cannot replicate.
Baseball is the deepest category on this floor — Pasco County has a large base of longtime collectors and vintage keeps surfacing from local collections. Football, basketball, and hockey are all well represented, with UFC, boxing, racing, and soccer showing up at specialist tables. Expect graded slabs in display cases, raw vintage in binders and monster boxes, modern rookies and numbered parallels, autographs, and relic and patch cards, plus a real quantity of pre-1980 material. Non-sports cards, Pokemon and modern TCG, comics, sports memorabilia, and general collectibles round out the mix.
The Quality Inn & Suites is a hotel function space directly on US 19, with free on-site parking and simple access from either direction. It is a compact single room rather than a sprawling hall, which means you can survey the whole floor at a glance and spend your time looking at cards instead of walking laps. Restaurants line US 19 in both directions, and the hotel has restrooms and seating for a break.
Saturday's 9:00 AM open is when the fresh material appears and the room is fullest — be there early if you are hunting rather than browsing. Sunday runs shorter and quieter, and dealers who fell short of their Saturday number are typically more flexible, so a card you passed on Saturday is often gettable Sunday afternoon.
Bring cash in small bills. Bring a want list organized by set and card number, not just player names. Bring penny sleeves and toploaders. If you are selling or trading, sort by sport and era first and keep high-value pieces in a separate secured binder. Ask before removing cards from cases, handle by the edges, and settle on price before a close condition inspection.
