Costumers where art thou?

[crazybone.livejournal.com]

This year's Arisia had several entries in the Masquerade but they seemed to come in a rush in the last month or so. This year's Balticon had approximately 20 entries, as opposed to some previous years when it was double that number. I thought it a fluke at first but after talking with some costumers it seems to be that less and less people are participating in Masquerades. I don't know if it's a Northeast thing, or that a majority of the diehards have decided to take a break for a few years. Everyone I talk to seems to have a different theory on the downward trend in costumers at the regional cons. So I ask both costumers and costume-viewers alike, why do you think this is happening and what can be done to fix it?