Newly-released records show Made picked its weekend the day before NAHBS announced — and that the documents answering the question were in the system when we first asked.

Metro, which owns the Oregon Convention Center, released a further tranche of records to Handbuilt Bicycle News this week. They answer the question that has occupied the frame building forums for two weeks.

Made was offered two dates, but one made a lot more sense than the other: Aug. 6-8, 2027.

Within a day of walking Made's organizers through the building, a convention center sales executive set out what was free in 2027. Aug. 6-8, with the whole building available and first pick of the halls. Or Aug. 13-15, when there were two other conventions, leaving only Halls C or D to choose from.

On Aug. 19 Made replied that it was looking most closely at the A halls and most likely at Aug. 6-8, on the grounds of the space available. NAHBS announced its own Aug. 6-8 dates at 09:07 the following morning.

So neither organizer chose this. Austin's records showed Walker had suggested an early spring event, but took the single weekend offered, Aug. 6-8, believing he’d be two weeks clear of Made, which he admits is tight, but doable. Portland's records now show Made was offered two weekends and picked the one with significantly better space options, the day before Walker went public, so how could they have known of Walker’s plans? Two shows, two venues, two ordinary commercial decisions, landing on the same weekend.

All things considered, this is a better than the alternative, and the HBG editorial stated at the time we did not know which it was.

That is the good news. Here is the rest of it.

We filed our first request with Metro on Aug. 23. It asked for records showing which 2027 dates were offered to, held for, or available to the organizer, and when Aug. 6-8 was placed on hold and confirmed.

Metro replied on Aug. 27: "Metro has reviewed its files and has determined there are no responsive documents to your request. There is not a[n] executed contract on file yet as negotiations are still pending. Additionally, there is no record of any other dates being offered for the event."

The first part was correct. No contract had been signed on Aug. 27; Made signed the next day.

The last sentence was not. The email offering Made two weekends was written on Aug. 18. It was five days old when we filed and nine days old when Metro told us no such record existed. The booking entry showing when the dates were placed on hold and when they were confirmed was in the system as well. They could have provided the requested information as promptly as Austin, Texas, did.

We do not take this for anything worse than a narrow search. Somebody looked in the contract file, found no contract, and let that stand as the answer to the whole request. Emails and booking systems are kept somewhere else.

The effect, though, was two weeks of speculation that will have rankled some in the industry, and two organizers left under an unearned, unpleasant questionmark. Public records law exists to prevent exactly that. It works best when the search matches the question.