Blog

Sorry this is so late, I was suppose to go to Gasparilla last weekend and I got stuck in the snow in Tennessee and never got down there and meant to do a review of ACC but dang...I forgot. So hear we go. 

This was my first show of the year after spending January and half of February in my studio working and it too almost didn't happen because of the weather but luckily the freeways were clear and I made it up there to Baltimore in time. I was just part of the retail show, it's a humongous show. I didn't even get over to the wholesale part or even the wholesale /retail part. But let me back this up.

Load in was extremely well organized and you had a specific time to dolly in to the Convention Center. It went pretty smooth. It was a really high quality show...the work that was there literally knocked me out. Some had huge booth set ups and a lot of work I have never seen on my circuit of shows (I do about 20 a year). It was impressive.

I heard this year that there were some mini booths at cheaper prices but I never saw them and I looked around but I don't think they were in the retail section. The show is an expensive show to do and the booth fee is a lot higher than most but I think it was fair considering how many people came.

Friday was packed with a lot of packages going out. It really surprised me how many people were there for 5 days strait and they had come in from all over the country. I got three wholesale people interested in making orders the first day and I was retail and not even there for that. Anyway, you get my drift.

Saturday was good in the morning but in the afternoon we got a considerable amount of snow and it kind of thinned the crowds out. I still had a good day. Sunday, even though it had snowed through the night, the crowds came out.....that's the difference between ACC Baltimore and ACC Atlanta...if there is a snowstorm in the South- the Galleria will be empty but up North they know how to maneuver and get around. I had my best day. I think everyone around me also had a good show. It was truly worth the trip.

Load out, unfortunately was a nightmare and they (ACC) have got to figure that out a bit better....sitting in line for two hours before you could even drive in to load up was not good...no, not good. But overall, it was a great show to do and was truly worth the money.

Let me preface that with I have relatives in Baltimore so that expense was off the table for me but I know it's an expensive place to get a hotel room in. I guess you have to figure it all up and judge for yourself. Of course I didn't probably do as well as the guy with the carved huge wooden clocks in the double booth... (that I would have cut off my right arm to have - they were incredible-sorry I can't remember his name) but I got my piece of the pie and it was a good first toe in the water for the year. 

Here is a great quote about how we in the South can't drive in snow ( mostly ice-because that is what we usually get) "Now I know why the North won the Civil War...the South got 1/2 an inch of snow and completely lost their shit..."