I hope you are not being cynical. There is a cost to put on thsi event, so we need to re-coup that cost.
You get to get in, and see everyone playing. You can play games using our terrain/tables that we have collected over 10 years and probably have about 5-10k invested in. I dont think $5 is too much to ask considering the incredible cost and liability Ordo is assuming to put this on every year.
I know you are on a fixed income Pax, but honestly, there are costs to this endeavor that we need to cover and charging you to get in is one of them. We have not charged in years past for walk in's but this year we need to manage those in the hall and charging for our costs is one of them. We will issue a lanyard to the walk-ins (and players). This naturally has a cost, perhaps not $5, but the walk through cost is the open gaming cost. If you want to come down, you will need to pay thsi entry fee.