Come from a hedgehog background, I was assuming the hamster shows would be similar. We have part of the hall sectioned off for the show part, but then have a number of stalls selling various things, from home made hog bedding (liners, pouches, tunnels, houses/huts, and toys) of which there are normally three or four, to more common toys (wheels, kongs, bowls, and other non-hand-made toys), as well as things like hog-related items (bags with hog fabric, ornaments, etc), and non-hog-related items such as a cake stall, jewelry, and so forth. Then we have two tables (one for each rescue - one wild, one exotic) who have information about keeping hogs/helping wild hogs, as well as a few bits and bobs like postcards, bookmarks, etc.
That said, I've not really seen any home-made things for hamsters, but the those would be the sorts of things I'd be interested in - like home-made treats (someone mentioned selling them on the forum - I'd 'expect' that sort of thing at a show), popsicle stick/wood houses (because I'm not very good with glue - it hates me, and terribly un-creative, I'd pay for things like that!), and things like personalised hamster bowls would be awesome - I love my hog's bowls, as well as her two big glass 'treat' jars (not so much treats, one holds her aquarium rocks, the other her flaxseed capsules!) - personalised things rock!
While some people might have everything they need, the hand-made stuff (if someone wants to sell it), is usually a good thing to entice even the I-own-everything crowd - namely temporary items (food/treats/bedding), or custom-to-order/handcrafted items (made to size huts and cage levels, sandbath bowls/jars with patterns/names on, and so forth). As a new-comer to hams, I'm feeling a distinct lack on that side of things (namely custom things to buy - I shop online for things like the Naturals range, or Boredom Breakers, but seems to be nada in the way of personalised goodies!), so thought the shows might cover that.
If nothing else, at least from the hoggie side of things, judging takes a good 3 hours where you can't get to your hog - browsing stalls gives a person something to do rather than make the judges self-conscious about being stared at for hours at a time
But, as I said, this is coming from going to other species' shows, and knowing what I like. Obviously, I'm not an expert in hamsters (or hogs really!), but I like the atmosphere, the meeting new people, the getting pointers on making my pets 'better', but I also like the shopping opportunities (and the ability to kick P&P in the butt
).