Chicago hosted the Thrive Allergy & Gluten-Free Expo on Saturday and Sunday (April 18 and 19). More than 3,000 tickets were sold. Check out this Chicago Tribune article listing many of the vendors
Did you attend, or hear any news about it? I thought this would be big news among bloggers and I haven't seen much. Am I missing something?
2 comments:
You probably didn't hear much because it wasn't advertised very well. I heard about it from another blog I follow and when I asked my friend who has celiac if she was going she had no idea about it a week and a half beforehand. She is very active in the Chicagoland Celiac community and was suprised that she knew nothing about it as she is always informed of such events through her networks. While I was there I spoke to a vendor who expressed how surprised he was by the low turnout (I'm actually surprised to hear you mention that 3000 tickets were sold, I went on Sunday and the attendance was steady but not busy compared to other shows I've been to) and I shared this story with him so he could let the show producers know they missed the mark on getting the word out.
Nonetheless, my friend and I enjoyed the show and had a great time sampling all of the allergen-free fair. The vendors that were there were great though a few key vendors in the industry were missing, in my opinion. I hope they do the show again next year and not only attract more exhibitors but also advertise in the allergic-community better to ensure a higher turnout! It's too great of a resource for the allergic community for it to not be realized to its full potential!
Thanks for the info, Jess. Yes, you'd think it would have been easy to advertise through Twitter, Facebook and blogrolls.
I too hope they do it again next year in a bigger and better way. maybe this was a "learning year" for the organizers.
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