I've never had a group asked for sanction for a 90 minute hamfest. Some are quite small but that's usually because they cover a lightly populated area. I go to quite a few but not the lightly attended ones if I can help it.

The HQ staff sends only enough brochures to cover the number of folks expected and the same with the box of books. I think they are quite good at this. Even though the hamfest is lightly attended a couple hundred or so, they do draw from an area and advertise the League. I really think I get more bang for the buck going to a hamfest than most club meetings. The hamfest I went to last weekend had about 2,500 or more but no forum (never have had one). We did sell memberships, pressed the flesh, and answered a lot of questions though.