I replied to Mike Kone off-list, but thought I'd post an excerpt for the benefit of CR listmembers:
Almost all concorsos, Concours, or whatever you want to call them charge an entry fee. You can think of it as a 'raffle' of sorts. You pay to enter a bike, and if your bike is deemed the coolest, you win 25% of the entry fee total. Like most things in life, it's a gamble. But there is a possibility that you could walk away with some free money.
Also, I have been assured by Inside Communications that after they cover the cost of the PVC pipe-and-drape for the Concorso area, and the prize money, all proceeds will be donated to a San Francisco advocacy group (like San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, for example).
Inside Communications does not, I repeat, DOES NOT stand to make any profit off of the Vintage Bicycle concorso. They just want to cover the cost of setting up the area for the bicycles. I think that is totally reasonable.
I organized the Concorso in 2004 and in my opinion, it was a fun event. To my knowledge, no one complained about the $10.00 entry fee back then. People were just excited to be able to show off their classic bikes to the thousands of people in attendance.
Jan Johnson
Portola Valley, California