First of all, a lot of it is rooted in myth and BS, although there's always a shred of truth.
Put simply, Winterail was a big deal being the only gathering of its kind on the West Coast, and being in central California made it readily accessible and affordable for a lot of people. For years, the venue was limited to 900 attendees and tickets sold out months in advance. Moving it Oregon (because the promotor moved there) cut attendance way down because of less local railfans, and the fact that going to it became much more expensive. For me, it went from a day trip and a one-hour drive to Stockton to a 550-mile drive each way to Corvallis and back. That's perfectly fine with me, and my friends and I usually turned it into a 4-5 day railfanning trip. I guess there were still a few "stinkies" in attendance, but I really didn't notice. I truly hope Vic will be able to hang on and resume the show once the plague allows.