Over at Garden Rant there is a post from Michelle titled, "What should a flower show be?" It addresses the declining attendance at these types of shows. At one time flower shows where the "bee's knees". If you recognize that saying you remember when flower shows we're popular.
Elizabeth has a couple of good suggestions for making the shows more exciting. I think that Duane Kelly, who founded the San Francisco and Northwest Flower shows hit it on the head when he said, "younger people are...less interested in the aesthetics of gardening and more in the environmental benefits, like composting."
So there you have it. The answer is staring us in the face. Change the shows so there are more displays utilizing what people want to see, "how to" displays. Why not have displays showing composting, pest control, high-density fruit tree planting, etc." Give the people what they want! We talked about this very subject just a post or two ago here. People have changed along with their needs. If flower shows are going to exist in the future they, like the rest of us, had better change and adapt or face an irrelevant future.